Sorghum Sourdough Starter

I already have shared my guide on brown rice sourdough starter and millet flour starter so you can refer to those posts if you don't want to use sorghum.

I primarily use my starter to make gluten-free sourdough bread and occasionally I make sourdough cinnamon rolls, soft pretzels, or dinner rolls that taste delicious!

When it comes to using the starter discard, I especially enjoy making these breakfast pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, and sourdough flatbreads.

Ingredients

See the recipe card at the end of the post for quantities.

• Sorghum flour - note that sorghum flour is a separate type of gluten-free flour, it is not the same as millet or amaranth flour.
• Water - I always use tap water, but if yours is high in chlorine, you might need to use bottled water instead.

Substitutions

If you don't want to use sorghum flour, you can use either brown rice flour (not white rice), buckwheat flour, millet flour, or teff flour.

You can even use a combination of two different types of flour.

Note that the amount of water will vary depending on the type of flour you use!

Instructions

On day 1 mix 20g of sorghum flour and 20g of water in a glass jar. You can use any kind of utensil for stirring.

Cover the glass jar with a loosely attached lid or cheesecloth fixed with a rubber band (keeps bugs out better) and let it sit for 24 hours.

Keep the jar at room temperature or in a warm spot away from direct sunlight and food sources.

On day 2 check your starter for activity. If you don't see any bubbles, stir the mixture, cover it, and let it sit for another 24 hours.

If you start seeing bubbles on day 2, proceed to the next step!

On day 3 you should start seeing activity in your starter.

Today we will add 20g of sorghum flour and 20g of water to the jar, stir, cover, and let it sit for another 24 hours.

On day 4 we will start discarding some of the starter.

Take a clean jar and add 10g of the starter to it, discarding the rest. It is best to throw away any starter that's younger than 7 days just to be safe.

Add 20g of sorghum flour and 20g of water to the jar, mix, cover, and let it sit for another 24 hours.

On day 5 we will again discard everything but about 20g of starter.

Only this time we will add 40g of flour and 40g of water to it. We are giving our bacteria more food at once instead of feeding it twice a day (saves time!).

Mix and cover your starter and let it sit for another 24 hours.

From now on, you will keep repeating the previous step until your starter is ready to bake with!

Keep mixing 10-20g of starter with 40g of flour and 40g of water daily.

You can start collecting the starter discard from day 7 and use it in starter discard recipes.

Once the starter is mature, you can either keep feeding it daily or keep it in the refrigerator and feed it once a week.

Troubleshooting & Tips

If your starter grew mold - you need to start over. Sometimes if your starter is close to food sources or if you used a dirty spoon to mix it might grow mold in which case you need to throw away the whole thing!

The top of the starter is slightly discolored - it is a normal thing to have your starter change its color on top, no need to worry unless you see mold patches!

My starter is pink - if you use buckwheat flour, your starter might look pink-ish. My sorghum starter also looked slightly pink sometimes which is a normal part of the process.

Water on top - the water is called hooch and is a sign of your starter being hungry. Sometimes the water layer will show up right after you fed the starter which is normal and will go away later on.

A water layer in the middle of the starter - this is a sign that your starter has passed its peak activity and is deflating. No reason to worry!

FAQ