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Sourdough Starters Vs. Commercial Baker’s Yeast

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Who’s the winner?

Good, the bad, and the ugly…

Everyone is doing their best —and I think bread baking is a spectrum.  Some people are used to yeast bread and some feel at home with sourdough baking.

So I think a better way to frame it is:

Good, better, best.

I always say that homemade bread is good, sourdough bread is better, and homemade sourdough bread is best.

Whichever you choose, I think we can all agree that the “ugly” is store-bought bread.  —the common enemy!

Slideshow Comparison

Check out the Yeast Bread vs. Sourdough Bread slideshow I made that summarizes the difference between the two…

Difference in Flavor

When you take a bite of sourdough bread and then taste a bread made with commercial baker’s yeast, you’ll notice a big difference.

Sourdough bread is richer in flavor and also boasts health benefits!

This is especially true when you taste fresh, homemade sourdough bread.

Compare that to bread made with commercial yeast –which often has a single, sweet, beer-like aroma that stands out in breads like brioche or a classic white loaf.

Using a sourdough starter can highlight other flavors, such as the caramel and earthy notes of whole wheat or the gentle sweetness of dairy.

This enhanced flavor comes from the diversity of microbes in a sourdough starter, which is something you won’t find in commercial yeast.

Sourdough bread is also often easier to digest, offers more bioavailable nutrients, and is generally better tolerated by people who have sensitivities to commercial yeast, sugars, or other additives.

That’s not to say that homemade bread made with conventional yeast are bad —they definitely have their place in home baking.

But sourdough is in a league of its own, with so many unique qualities that make it truly special.

Cost Per Use

Yeast

When you compare the cost of using commercial baker’s yeast versus a sourdough starter, there are a few key factors to consider.

Commercial baker’s yeast is generally inexpensive and easy to find, usually sold in packets or jars that can last for several batches of bread.

And each packet contains a measured amount of yeast, making it simple to use with consistent results.

What’s the catch?

Well, over time, the cost of continually buying yeast really adds up, especially if you bake frequently.

Sourdough Starter

On the other hand, a sourdough starter has a higher initial investment in terms of time and effort rather than money.

Once you’ve got your sourdough starter going, though, it can last indefinitely with proper care, making it essentially a one-time cost.

You only need to feed it regularly with flour and water, which are relatively cheap, and that’s it!

The longer you maintain your sourdough starter, the more value you get out of it, and you won’t need to keep buying yeast for every batch of bread you bake.

In the long run, using a sourdough starter can be more cost-effective than relying on commercial yeast, especially for frequent bakers.

While there’s an initial learning curve and a bit of daily maintenance involved, the benefits —both in terms of cost savings and the unique flavors you get —can make it well worth the effort.

Plus, there’s something special about having a living, thriving sourdough starter in your kitchen, ready to be used whenever you’re in the mood to bake.

Modern vs Ancient Origins

Yeast

Commercial baker’s yeast has a relatively modern origin, developed for consistency and convenience in baking.

It was first produced on a large scale in the 19th century, when scientists isolated specific strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast most commonly used in baking today.

This yeast was cultivated and mass-produced to provide bakers with a reliable and fast-acting leavening agent.

The goal was to create a yeast that would perform the same way every time, giving predictable results and reducing the time needed for bread to rise.

Sourdough Starter

Sourdough starters have ancient origins, dating back thousands of years.

Long before commercial yeast was available, bakers relied on naturally occurring wild yeast and bacteria in their environment to leaven bread.

A sourdough starter is essentially a mix of flour and water that captures these wild microbes from the air, flour, and even the baker’s hands.

Over time, this mixture ferments and develops a unique ecosystem of yeast and lactic acid bacteria, which not only leavens the bread but also gives it its rich and robust flavor.

Every sourdough starter is unique, influenced by its environment and the ingredients used, making it a true reflection of local traditions and conditions.

While commercial yeast was developed for uniformity and speed, sourdough starters carry with them a sense of history and place.

Each starter is a living link to the ancient methods of bread-making, offering a connection to the past and a deep, rich flavor that can’t be replicated by commercial yeast.

For many sourdough bakers, the process of cultivating and maintaining a sourdough starter is as rewarding as the bread it produces, making it a cherished part of their baking routine.

Are Hydration Ratios Important? And How Does It Affect My Sourdough Bread?

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Look the picture above

This is a whole wheat sourdough dough that doesn’t have the correct hydration ratio. Because of that the dough easily tears and doesn’t behave well for you.

The trick to becoming a better baker, not just a better sourdough baker is knowing

  1. Flour types (or more specifically, how much protein there is in the flour), and
  2. The right hydration ratio for that flour type

☝️ These two go hand in hand and they are VERY important to the structural make up of your sourdough bread recipe

If you change the flour in a recipe WITHOUT also changing the hydration ratio to account for the change in flour, then you run into problems

The Reason Why:

Flours have a minimum and maximum threshold of water. In other words,

  • Flours need a minimum amount of water to become dough, and
  • Flours have a maximum amount of water until it becomes gravy

To get a dough that will behave for you, you need to find out the “Min and Max hydration” for your flour.

When you work within this min and max hydration, you will get a sourdough dough that’s got a really nice texture, elasticity and pliability.

Because when you stay within the min and max hydration, you will ALWAYS pass the windowpane test.

It is within this hydration spectrum that you will find the windowpane sweet spot.

How to do it

So how do you find the min and max hydration for your flour?

IT’S REALLY EASY

Do test batches with your flour

For example:

  • Bowl 1 – 100g flour + 60g water (60% hydration)
  • Bowl 2 – 100g flour + 65g water (65% hydration)
  • Bowl 3 – 100g flour + 70g water (70% hydration)

And so on and so forth 

See how the dough feels like to you, see if it passes the windowpane test.

The bowl with the lowest hydration that can pass the windowpane test is your MIN.

The bowl with the highest hydration that can pass the windowpane test WITHOUT tearing is your MAX.

How to swap the flour in a sourdough bread recipe

Simply find the correct hydration ratio for the flour you want to use instead. Test your flour and find the MIN and MAX hydration. Once you have that, you can find your windowpane sweet spot.

Use the correct hydration for the flour you’ll be using instead of the flour from the original recipe and keep in mind that now that you’ve changed hydration ratios, you have now also changed the speed of fermentation.

The more water/hydration you use, the faster the fermentation will be. The less water/hydration you use, the slower the fermentation will be.

Recommended reading:

Is the type of flour I use important? And how does it affect my sourdough bread?

How Do You Feed Your Sourdough Starter in Cold Winter Temperatures?

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Winter sourdough starter tricks

What to do to speed up your sourdough starter so you can bake sourdough bread ASAP👇

Feed it flour that it loves

There are some flours that the starter loves because it has high amounts of a protein called amylase that helps the starter break down carbohydrates. 

These are: rye flour, sprouted barley flour, King Arthur white bread flour (includes the amylase enzyme and/or barley flour)

Add a little more water

The more hydration a starter/dough has, the faster it will ferment.  And the less water it has, the slower it will ferment.

Increase the temp

The higher the temp = the faster the fermentation.  So put your starter in a place where it will be super warm.  Like 88-98F warm.

Increase the humidity

Humidity will also increase your fermentation —but especially high temp + high humidity combined.

Put it in a proofer

If you have a proofer like I do, that would be the way to go.  You can control the temp and humidity at will.

Put it in the oven with the light on

The closer environment and heat source is enough to increase the temp to make your starter happy.

Leverage thermal mass

Here’s the absolute golden tip:

Boil water and put it in a big metal container —put this in small, enclosed area —your microwave/oven/closet and put your starter next to it.  Not touching, just next to it. 

Why?  Because water is good thermal mass (the ability of a material to absorb, store and release heat)

Doing all of this ☝️ has turbocharged my starter regardless of any winter temp.

📣 That being said, if you’d like the starter feeding schedule that I use to bake all my sourdough bread that I sell in my sourdough bakery, go here:

Roselle’s sourdough starter feeding schedule

The No-Waste Sourdough Starter Method

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My Sourdough Starter Feeding Schedule

As a sourdough baker, I’m always on the lookout for techniques that can help streamline the process and reduce waste. That’s why I’m a big proponent of the “no-waste” or “no-discard” sourdough starter method.

Let me share with you how this approach can revolutionize the way you maintain and use your sourdough starter, whether you keep it at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

The Problem with Traditional Sourdough Starter Maintenance

Traditionally, when maintaining a sourdough starter, bakers are often instructed to regularly discard a portion of the starter before feeding it fresh flour and water. This helps keep the starter at a manageable size and prevents it from becoming overly acidic or stagnant.

Did You Know?

If you didn’t discard at all, a starter that’s 50g turns into 241lbs by the 7th feeding!

However, this process results in a lot of waste – all that discarded starter ends up in the trash or compost. Not only is this wasteful, but it means you’re constantly having to use extra flour to keep your starter fed and healthy.

The No-Waste Sourdough Starter Method

The no-waste method I use solves this problem elegantly. Instead of regularly discarding a portion of the starter, I maintain an incredibly small amount – just 10 grams – and scale it up as needed when it’s time to bake.

Here’s how it works:

Room Temp Storage

I bake everyday. So I keep a 10g starter on my counter, feeding it a 1:5:5 ratio right before bed and when I wake up.

I just feed this 10g of starter with 50g of flour and 50g of water (1:5:5 feeding ratio).

When the starter reaches its peak, I take 100g to make 1 sourdough bread. Then I simply feed the remaining 10g to continue the cycle.

Refrigerator Storage

If you prefer to store your starter in the fridge, the no-waste method can still be applied too! The key differences are:

I feed the refrigerated starter once a week, using a 1:5:5 ratio (same as a room temp starter)

If at any point during the week, I need to bake 1 bread, I simply take 100g from my starter and feed the remainder to continue the cycle.

The beauty of this approach is that I almost never have any sourdough discard to worry about. The small 10-gram starter I maintain is just enough to keep the culture thriving, and I only scale it up when I need it for baking.

The benefits of the no-waste method remain the same, whether you store your starter on the countertop or in the fridge. By maintaining a tiny amount and scaling up as needed, you’ll drastically reduce waste and simplify the overall starter maintenance process.

Benefits of the No-Waste Method

There are several key advantages to using the no-waste sourdough starter method:

Reduced Waste – No more discarding large amounts of starter, which means less flour and water being used and thrown away.

Simplified Maintenance – Keeping a tiny 5-10 gram starter is much easier to manage than a larger, more high-maintenance culture.

Increased Efficiency – When it’s time to bake, I can simply feed the starter at a higher ratio to get the amount I need, without having to deal with excess discard.

Cost Savings – By minimizing waste, I’m saving on the cost of flour and water that would have been discarded previously.

Whether you prefer to store your starter at room temperature or in the refrigerator, the no-waste method is a game-changer that makes the overall sourdough baking process simpler, more sustainable, and more cost-effective. Give it a try and experience the benefits for yourself!

Thanksgiving week I’m selling frozen sourdough bread and dinner rolls.  Thawing/heating directions?

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Okay so I think that the safest way to thaw and reheat Sourdough bread is to take it out of the freezer and let it thaw completely and then reheat it at 450 for about 10 minutes

You’ll probably see other people say something like, “oh you can just take it straight out of the freezer and put it in your oven at 325F and let that cook until it’s warmed through”

But then how do you know if it’s warm all the way through, right?

So I think the safest thing to do is to just to let it thaw and then reheat it at 450 for 10 minutes.

How can I revive an OLD sourdough starter that’s been hibernating in the fridge?

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As long as your sourdough starter is alive, all you have to do is take it out of the fridge, wait for it to thaw and come to room temperature, and then you just discard a little bit and then feed it and then just wait and see for any kind of activity

I don’t think it’s dead, so just feed your sourdough starter and then wait for it to double in size.

Your sourdough starter should go up and down, up and down consistently.

It may take two or three feedings, but I think it’s still alive so long as you don’t see any signs of pink, orange, green, black, gray or fuzz.

How wide is your oven? I saw 4 Challenger bread pans total in your oven

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I can fit 4 of these Dutch Ovens in my regular sized oven. My oven is a normal gas oven that came with the house. Nothing special. I have bought many Dutch Ovens during my sourdough bread baking journey and have found these to be the best ones.

They are basically Challenger Bread Pan knock-offs –at almost half the price.

I love them! You can find my Dutch ovens here.