46 bread starter recipes

Yeasted anise biscotti from Genoa, made with a sponge starter for a lighter, bread-like crumb. Twice-baked with butter and aniseed, these are nothing like ordinary biscotti.

Yeasty sourdough starter is the shortcut version: unbleached flour, a packet of dry yeast, and water mixed into a thick batter and left warm for a day. A fast track to bread baking when you don't want to wait two weeks for a wild starter.

Old-fashioned milk-and-flour sourdough starter with no commercial yeast. Two ingredients capture wild bacteria for tangy bread. Patience required.

Rye sourdough starter made the old Jewish bakery way: rye flour, water, a packet of yeast, and a halved onion that pulls in the wild flavor for classic deli-style rye bread.

Simple sourdough starter made with unbleached all-purpose flour and warm milk instead of water. A two-ingredient base for homemade sourdough bread.

Easy pumpkin loaves made with sourdough starter and biscuit mix for a shortcut spiced bread with raisins, walnuts, and a sweet golden glaze.

Old-fashioned potato sourdough starter built on potato water, flour, sugar, and a pinch of yeast. The starches feed wild and added yeasts together for a tangy, vigorous base for breads, pancakes, and biscuits.

A simple overnight yeast sponge starter made with just flour, water, and active dry yeast. The base for flavorful homemade bread with better texture and deeper taste.

Two-ingredient sourdough starter made with just flour and water, left to ferment for 4-5 days. The simplest way to capture wild yeast for homemade sourdough bread.

Stir flour, yeast, and water together to create a simple sourdough starter that bubbles to life in days, ready to bake tangy bread without fussing over wild yeasts.

Wild yeast sourdough starter made with just milk and unbleached flour. A 2-ingredient no-yeast method that captures natural bacteria over several days for homemade sourdough bread.

Plain sourdough starter made from just flour and water. No commercial yeast needed. Mix, wait four to five days, and you have a wild-fermented base for bread.

Simple sourdough starter made with unbleached flour and active dry yeast mixed into a thick batter and fermented for 24 hours. The foundation for sourdough breads and pancakes.

Traditional German rye sourdough starter (Sauerteig): a three-phase rye flour and water leaven built over 3 days for authentic German rye bread baking. Maintainable and long-keeping.