How To Make A Khapli Wheat

Sourdough Starter

At Home? A Beginner's Guide

From breakfast breads to artisanal sandwiches, sourdough has snuck into every item on the menu, or so it seems. But like any bread, even the sourdough needs a starter. In the simplest of terms, a starter is a live, fermented mixture of flour and water that helps the bread rise. A sourdough starter is usually made from one of the three: all-purpose flour, wheat flour, or rye flour. Here, however, the recipe calls for the nutty, nutritious khapli wheat flour. 

Listed below are the materials you need to make a Khapli wheat sourdough starter at home: 

• 30 g Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta (plus extra for daily feedings)

• 30 g Filtered water (chlorine-free) (plus extra for daily feedings)

• 1 Glass jar or wide-mouth container

• Kitchen scale

• Spoon or spatula

Khapli actually suits sourdough perfectly because of its lower gluten structure and high fibre content. This works to produce a starter that results in a denser, more flavourful loaf than modern wheat sourdough. The fermentation process also helps to make the nutrients present in the khapli wheat more bioavailable than what you’d get with a regular wheat sourdough bread. 

On day one, begin by mixing 30 grams of Khapli flour and 30 grams of water in your jar. Stir it well until it looks like a thick paste. Put a loose lid or cloth on top and let it rest. Keep it at room temperature and don’t feed the starter on day two. However, lightly stir it to give it fresh air. On day three, you might see a few bubbles in the jar. There may also be a sour or cheesy scent emanating from the jar. At this point, add 30 grams of Khapli flour and 30 grams of water to your jar. Stir very well.

From now on, you must "discard" half of your starter before feeding. This means keeping only 30 grams of your starter in the jar and throwing away the rest. To the 30 grams of starter, add 30 grams of Khapli flour and 30 grams of water and stir well. Discarding has two roles to play - managing volume by keeping the mixture to a manageable size and preventing starvation by providing yeast and bacteria with a fresh, abundant food supply to stay strong and active.

A sourdough starter is ready to bake when it doubles or triples in size within 4 to 8 hours after feeding. It should look light, airy, and bubbly, smell mildly sweet, fruity, and yeasty (not sharp or like vinegar), and pass the float test. What’s the float test? It’s exactly what the name says: Drop a teaspoon of your active starter into a small glass of room-temperature water. If it floats, it has enough gas and yeast activity to leaven bread.

First and foremost, be patient. Khapli wheat starters may take 5–7 days (or slightly longer in cooler weather) to become active. You can use water around 30 °C to 35 °C to help the yeast grow faster in cool weather. Look for bubbles, a pleasantly tangy aroma, and a light texture rather than expecting a dramatic rise. If a thin layer of greyish liquid appears on top, it’s completely normal. Simply pour it off or stir it back in before feeding the starter again. Also, once your starter is ready, you may not be using it to bake every day. In this case, store your jar in the refrigerator. Feed it once a week with fresh flour and water.

Now that you’ve got your in-house starter, the next step is to use it to bake a loaf. And it’s not that difficult. First, mix 100 g active khapli sourdough starter, 500 g Aashirvaad Chakki Khapli Atta, 325–350 ml water, and 10 g salt in a bowl to form a shaggy dough. Let it rest for 30 minutes, then knead lightly or perform a few stretch-and-folds. Cover and leave it to bulk ferment until the dough becomes airy and increases noticeably in volume.

Shape the dough into a smooth round or oval loaf and place it on a tray lined with baking paper or in a bowl lined with a clean, well-floured kitchen towel. Cover and let it rest for 1–2 hours, until it looks slightly puffier. Just before baking, use a sharp knife to make one shallow cut (about 1 cm deep) across the top so the bread can expand evenly in the oven. Bake at 230°C for 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 200°C and bake for another 20–25 minutes until the loaf is deep golden brown. Let it cool completely before slicing.

Now you’ve made a khapli sourdough bread from scratch, including your own sourdough starter. You can use it to make fresh avocado toast, simple cold sandwiches, a cheesy grilled sandwich, or serve it as a side with hot soup. Even better, turn this into a summer cooking project and flex your baking skills. Because banana bread is so last season. It’s all about sourdough now!