How Do I Convert Recipes To Sourdough? #AskWardee 043 (2024)

“How do I convert recipes to sourdough?” Amy B. asks. I’m sharing my thoughtsbelow in today’s #AskWardee.

I broadcast #AskWardeeliveeach Wednesday at 10am Pacific (1pm Eastern) on Periscope and Facebook Live. Both the podcast and video replay of this week’s show are below. Enjoy!

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The Question

Amy B. asked me:

Do you have any advice or starting points on converting “regular” baked goods recipes to sourdough recipes? (If you’d recommend doing that at all…) I have some favorite recipes that I’d like to convert, and I’m wondering if you had any suggestions for modifying the liquid and dry ingredients to give me a foundation for changing the recipes.

My Answer: How To Convert Recipes To Sourdough

You have a bubbling sourdough starter, and it seems like such a betrayal not to use it when you’re baking, right?

So sooner or later, you might find yourself wishing you knew how to take the tried-and-true non-sourdough recipes and adapt them for sourdough.

Itcan take some trial and error to convert recipes to sourdough, but if you can grasp the overall principles and practice… I think you’ll soon be off to the races!

Yeasted Recipes

A quick rule to adapt recipes to sourdough is: Substitute 1 cup of starter for each package of yeast, and then subtract about 1/2 cup of water and 3/4 cup of flour from the recipe to compensate for the water and flour in the starter.

You will need to play with the consistency of the dough — adding or subtracting liquid or flour. Aim for how you know the recipe should look and feel.

And, you will need to add a rising time. Sourdough needs more rising time than quick yeast. Instead of an hour or whatever the original recipe calls for, aim for at least 5 to 8 hours total of rising. Which might be broken up into a first or second rise (when you punch down the dough in between).

See note below for baking soda and liquid acids.

If you’re looking for a tried-and-true yeasted bread recipe, try my no-knead artisan sourdough einkorn bread. You can get the free recipe here!

Quick Breads

Conventional quick breads probably don’t have a soaking stage already worked in. If they did, this wouldbe really easy.

Here’s how to adapt recipes to sourdough for quick breads with and without soaking stages:

If there is a soaking stage: use sourdough starter in place of the acid medium. Proceed with the recipe. No other changes should be necessary.

If there is not already a soaking stage (most likely): at the beginning of the recipe, combine just the flour and liquid (and maybe the fat if there’s isn’t enough liquid to wet the flour) and also add 1 tablespoon sourdough starter for each cup of liquid. Let that batter/dough sour 5 to 8 hours. Then add everything else in the recipe and proceed with the directions for baking.

Alternate Quick Bread Adaptation

Rather than adding a small amount of sourdough as above, you can replace more of the flour and water with sourdough starter (sourdough starter is a mixture of flour and water after all).

Let’s say you tend to feed your sourdough starter equal parts flour and water — 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water at a time, for example. Then use 1/2 cup of your starter to replace 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water/liquid in the recipe.

If you tend to feed a bit more flour than water (which is what I do), you can use your starter to replace a bit more flour than water in the original recipe.

Create the batter with as few ingredients as possible — starter, flour, liquid. Let sour for 5 to 8 hours. Add the rest of the ingredients and bake.

See note below for baking soda and liquid acids.

Pancakes, Waffles, & Crepes

Pancakes, waffles, and crepes are very easy to convert to sourdough because starter is just right for these batters and there’s no need to add additional flour. This means you can skip the soaking! (This article explains the beauty of no-wait sourdough and also gives links to 4 tried-and-true no-wait sourdough recipes.)

Pancakes and waffles — sourdough starter can replace all the flour and liquid in the recipe as is. It is usually already the right consistency for batters like this.

Crepes — use the sourdough starter in place of the flour and water and then thin (after mixing in the other ingredients) with milk or other liquid to a crepe batter consistency.

See note below for baking soda and liquid acids.

The Baking Soda Issue

Baking soda reacts with acids and puffs it all up. But… sourdough starter is acidic. So keep in mind that if your original recipe has baking soda and there was no acid in the recipe (like yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar), sourdough starter will act as an acid and cause a reaction that you may not have seen before in your recipe. This is ok most of the time and will actually allow your quick bread or breads to turn out light and fluffy!

You want to add that baking soda at the very end, or maybe just before mixing in any add-ins like chocolate chips or dried fruit. Then bake while the batter is still billowy. This isn’t a batter you want to let sit around.

You can also choose to reduce the amount of baking soda (if too much fluffy happens). Or use baking powder instead (which creates both an immediate and delayed rising action).

The Acid Issue

If your original recipe depends on using an acidic liquid such as buttermilk or yogurt, you could use milk or even water along with sourdough starter. The sourdough provides the acid and the milk/water provides the liquid.

For More Information:

Free Sourdough Starter Instructions
Free No-Knead Artisan Bread Recipe
4 No-Wait Sourdough Recipes
Really??? Discard Half My Starter At Each Feeding? #AskWardee 113

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Do you know how to convertrecipes to sourdough? Have you done it successfully?

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How Do I Convert Recipes To Sourdough? #AskWardee 043 (2024)

FAQs

How do you calculate sourdough ratio? ›

So, a sourdough feeding ratio is the relative amount (referring to weight) of old sourdough compared to fresh flour and water. Typical feeding ratios are 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 (old sourdough: fresh flour: water). However, even extreme ratios like 1:50:50 would still work.

View Details ›

What is the best ratio of sourdough starter to flour? ›

The most common feeding ratio is 1:1:1 (sourdough starter: flour: water). This is also known as a 100% hydration starter. For example, let's say you have 40 g of sourdough starter in a jar. To feed it, you'll add 40 g of flour + 40 g of water.

Get More Info ›

How do I substitute yeast for sourdough starter? ›

Generally, you can substitute a packet of yeast for 100g of sourdough starter. If your recipe uses less than a packet of yeast, you can use less sourdough starter, however it won't make too much difference because of the way wild yeast works.

Show Me More ›

How do you make enough sourdough starter? ›

There is no single best ratio, but I've found a ratio of 1:5:5 fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals to produce a sourdough starter that's strong and healthy. This ratio corresponds to 20% ripe starter carryover, 100% water, and 100% flour (a mix of whole grain rye and white flour) at each feeding.

Keep Reading ›

How do you calculate bread dough? ›

The calculation is:

Actual Tin Volume (in grams) / Magic Number = Target Dough Weight (in grams)
Ingredient Quantity / Actual Dough Weight x Target dough weight =
New Ingredient Quantity.

Mar 23, 2023

How do you measure flour for sourdough? ›

The most accurate way to measure flour is with a digital scale. It removes the guesswork and will help you achieve consistent baking results. All of our recipes assume 1 cup = 120g (or 4.25 oz.)

Read On ›

What happens if I put too much starter in my sourdough? ›

The colony of wild yeast and bacteria inside your starter jar are fairly resilient, however, like most living things, they can be overfed. When you overfeed a sourdough starter you dilute the natural population of yeast and bacteria, making your sourdough culture weak and inactive.

Tell Me More ›

Can you add too much flour to sourdough starter? ›

Overfeeding can be a cause of this “sickness,” as can lack of feeding and neglect. Because, yes, you can overfeed your sourdough. The explanation is quite simple: if you add too much water and flour, you're basically diluting the natural population of yeast and bacteria.

What flour makes the most sour sourdough starter? ›

Adding whole grain flour: Whole grain flour, particularly whole rye flour (pumpernickel), tends to promote more sour flavor in bread for two reasons. First, the type of sugars available in whole rye (or whole wheat) flour encourage a shift toward acetic acid production.

Do you have to discard sourdough starter every time you feed it? ›

It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.

Get More Info ›

How much sourdough starter is equal to one package of yeast? ›

ADAPTING YEAST RECIPES TO SOURDOUGH

The rising power of one packet of yeast is about equivalent to one cup of sourdough starter, depending on the health of your starter. Knowing these two factors you can approximate a substitution of one cup of sourdough starter for one packet of commercial yeast.

See Details ›

Can I put dry yeast in my sourdough starter? ›

All it takes is three simple ingredients—water, flour, and some active dry yeast—then add some time and patience on your part, and you'll have your sourdough starter to make delicious loaves of bread.

What is the 1 2 2 ratio for sourdough starter? ›

A 1:2:2 feeding ratio would consist of one part existing starter, two parts flour and two parts water. For example, if you have 30g of existing starter, you would feed it 60g of flour and 60g of flour. The most common feeding ratios for daily maintenance are 1:1:1 or 1:2:2.

What is the best ratio to feed sourdough starter? ›

Think of it as one part starter, one part water, plus one part flour (or 1:1:1). Just remember to keep all parts equal by weight. This is the ratio that I recommend for starting and feeding your starter until it is well established (after the 10-14 day initial time frame).

Know More ›

What is 1 3 3 ratio sourdough starter? ›

I typically use a 1:3:3 ratio meaning that however much starter I keep I feed it 3xs the amount of flour and water. So let's use our example again of keeping 10 grams of starter. For the 1:3:3 feeding you would give your starter 30 grams of flour and 30 grams of water resulting in 70 grams of total starter.

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