Welcome to TartDough.com
I’m Oriyah Owen—wife, mother to six wonderful children, and the heart behind TartDough Bakery.
My love for cooking, especially baking, started when I was just a child. Nine years ago, inspired by my husband, I dove into the world of sourdough by creating a starter using the natural yeast from the skins of plums from our own backyard. At the time, I was hesitant—sourdough seemed so complex and scientific, something I wasn’t sure I could manage while homeschooling and raising six little ones.
But I gave it a try, and I’m so glad I did. A friend gave me the simple tip to dry my starter whenever I needed a break—and it worked like a charm! To this day, my starter has never seen the inside of a refrigerator. It’s either happily bubbling away on my counter or tucked dry in my pantry, ready for action.
Baking with sourdough has become as natural in our home as cooking meals, making our own cleaners and laundry soap, or cheesemaking. Every week, we bake dozens of loaves to share at our local farmers market. I’ve passed along my starter to friends near and far—it’s now thriving in kitchens across the country and even overseas!
Over the years, I’ve used this same starter for everything from bread, pancakes, and waffles to English muffins, bagels, pizza crusts, crackers, and granola bars. I hope it brings as much joy and deliciousness to your kitchen as it has to ours.
Happy baking!
Oriyah
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to get you started with your own sourdough
Activating Your Dry Sourdough Starter
- Crumble 1 ounce of dry starter into a glass bowl or canister (if you’re using a canister, make sure to remove the seal so the starter can breathe).
- Pour 1/2 cup of room temperature water onto the dry starter.
- Let it sit for 2-3 hours. After sitting, you should start seeing tiny little bubbles in your water.
- Stir the softened starter and add a heaping cup of flour (all purpose or whole wheat) add 3/4 cup of room temperature water. Stir together very well and cover with plastic or a towel making sure to leave some breathing space on a couple of edges. It should be the consistency of pancake batter.
- Set in a warm place for 8 to 12 hours. At this point, you should see lots of bubbles forming in your starter.
- Feed your starter another heaping cup of flour and a cup of room temperature water. Mix very well and cover.
- Let it sit for another 12 hours in a warm place. Now your starter should be very bubbly and “happy”, you are ready to start baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
You can use any type of wheat flour you’d like.
All-purpose white flour will give you a more mild sourdough bread.
An organic whole-wheat flour will tend to give a stronger flavor to your sourdough.
Typically 75-80°, the main thing you need to know is that the warmer the environment the more active the starter will be, the cooler, the more sluggish it will be.