Chocolate Sourdough Starter

Ingredient notes and tools you will need

Flour: When you first add flour to your starter, it’s best to use whole wheat flour. This type of flour contains more natural bacteria and yeast, which will give your starter a quick boost. When you start to feed your starter, you should use all-purpose flour or bread flour, as the sugars will help the yeast to grow.

Cocoa powder: To create a chocolate sourdough starter, we replace a portion of the flour with cocoa powder. I prefer using Dutch-processed cocoa powder for its intense chocolate flavor and deep brown color, but you can also use regular cocoa powder as long as it is unsweetened.

Water: In most regions, you can use tap water; however, if your water contains high levels of fluoride or chlorine, I recommend using bottled water instead.

A jar or container: Now that you know what you need to create a chocolate starter, it’s time to choose your container. We always recommend using glass for storing our starters because it is easy to clean and, being transparent, it allows you to see when your starter peaks and if there are any problems. You can also use a plastic container as long as it has a lid.

Measuring cups or a kitchen scale: To measure out your ingredients, it is always better to use grams instead of cups. This will give you a more accurate and consistent result. We always include imperial measurements because we know many of you prefer to use cups, but we highly recommend learning how to use a kitchen scale.

What can I make with a chocolate sourdough starter?

You can use a chocolate sourdough starter the same way you would use a traditional sourdough starter! I like to add it to bread and cookies, but don’t let that stop you! We’ve created a list of our favorite chocolate sourdough bakes to get you started.

• Chocolate sourdough cookies
• Sourdough chocolate chip bread
• Chocolate sourdough bread
• Homemade sourdough brownies
• Chocolate sourdough waffles and muffins!
• Sourdough scones with chocolate
• Chocolate sourdough pancakes!
• Sourdough chocolate cupcakes.

How to maintain and feed your chocolate sourdough starter

Since we don’t bake with chocolate every day, we prefer to keep our chocolate starters in the fridge. That way, you don’t have to feed it every day to keep it alive for your next bake. If you store it in the fridge, it is important to let it come to temperature and feed your starter a few hours before you begin to activate it. How long this will take depends on the environmental temperature and how mature and active your starter is.

If you’re a true chocolate lover who uses chocolate almost daily, you can treat it like a regular starter and keep it at room temperature. The cocoa powder can affect the time it takes for the starter to rise and fall, but you’ll quickly learn how your starter behaves.

Frequently asked questions

Storage

If you’re a frequent baker like we are, it’s best to keep your chocolate sourdough starter at room temperature. You will need to feed it every day to keep it alive and active. However, if you don’t plan to use it daily, you can store it in the fridge! This is a great option if you won’t be home for an extended period.

To activate your starter, simply give it a feed and wait a few hours for it to peak again. This process may take a bit longer than when you keep it at room temperature, but that’s completely normal.

If you’re unsure when you’ll use your chocolate starter or if you don’t have time to maintain it, you can also dry your starter. We have a post that explains everything you need to know about how to dry a sourdough starter.