In recent years I've greatly enjoyed baking with lievito madre - the Italian 'stiff' sourdough starter. I've been intimidated by the challenge of keeping an 'English' sourdough starter alive, and the complexity of making English sourdough bread. The Italian version seems much more straightforward, and has the added advantage of being less sour so being suitable for making sweet baked goods as well as breads. However, I've found very little information on lievito madre in English so have decided to put together a guide and hope it is of use to other non-Italian speakers.
The below guide is also available as a pdf.
Most of my information comes from Giovanni Tiso, who posted instructions on making the starter and various recipes on Twitter in 2021. I've also incorporated some things that he's posted more recently on Bluesky, as well as recipes from a variety of other sources and from my own growing experience.
If I know you and you're local I'm very happy to give you a ball of starter. Otherwise, if you don't have one and would like to make your own there are instructions on doing that at the end.
Table of contents
Freezing the starter
Piadina (flatbread)
Bagels
Pancakes
Other
Recipes
Bread
Pizza
Buns
Foccacia
Torta di rosa (rose cake)
Donuts
Cinnamon rolls
Plain savarin cake (with rhubarb and elderflower variation)
Pani popo
Adapting other recipes
Establishing a starter
Maintaining/using the starter
Store the starter in the fridge and generally feed it at least every 5-7 days (I feed mine every 5) – or more often if you want to use it more.
Every time you use the starter, bring to room temperature (takes ~2 hours) then split it in 2-3:
100g is fed with 50g water and 100g of flour, kneaded to a dough and left till it has risen to roughly double (~4hours) then put back in the fridge. This portion traditionally has a deep cross cut in the top of the ball;
whatever you need is fed with half its weight of either milk or water and equal weight of flour, kneaded then left at room temp to double (again ~4h). This is called a ‘biga’. It also usually had a cross cut in the top to acknowledge that it is God that makes the bread rise;
the remainder is 'discards'. You can accumulate these in the fridge and use to make flatbreads, pancakes, biscuits etc. (things that don’t need to rise much).
I store my starter in a 2 cup capacity see-through plastic tub. When I feed the starter I empty that container and soak it in very hot water whilst I’m doing the feeding and making my biga. I then wash it out with more hot water and put the fed starter into that to rise. When the container is mostly full I put it back in the fridge.
It’s best not to use soap when cleaning your starter container (or to rinse it really well after) as soap kills yeast.
Note: I keep a second starter in the freezer as backup in case I ruin my main one – which I have done once so far!
Freezing the starter
If you want to leave your starter for longer than 7 days, put it in the freezer. For short storage you can just take the container out of the fridge and put it in the freezer; for longer storage it seems to work best to freeze it immediately after feeding.
When you want to use it again, put it on the bench at room temperature and wait for it to rise till it’s doubled. This may well take 12-18 hours. Use as usual (feed + make biga and discards)
If it doesn’t double in that time, leave it on the bench for up to 48 hours then feed it (take 100g and mix it with 50g water and 100g flour). Compost the rest – it won’t be good for discard recipes.
Repeat that until you get it doubling in 12-18 hours, at which point you should be able to use it.
(based on my experience and https://otiveil.wordpress.com/faq/wild-yeast-culture-lievito-madre/#Q10).
Using discards
Some people fry discard ‘as is’ or mixed with herbs then eat as a pancake – I don’t think that tastes nice.
Piadina (flatbread) – we use these like roti
90g discard
75g water
150g flour
1T oil
1 tsp salt
Knead well, divide into four, rest at least one hour, roll out (oil the surface lightly if they’re sticking) cook flat on both sides (no oil) or fill with ham and cheese and close like calzone.
If we don’t want to eat them all at once we store them in a box in the fridge in one-roti-sized balls. They seem to make softer roti the longer you leave them.
Bagels
Mix 100g discard with 3 cups flour, 65g gluten, 2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp honey, 25g oil, ~1c water (err on the side of less so the dough isn't too sticky to handle later)
Knead well, leave till doubled.
Cut into 8 balls. Shape into bagels. Leave till doubled.
Boil each bagel for 45-60 seconds per side. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cook at 230°C for 20 minutes (check after 15 minutes – they burn quite easily).
https://bsky.app/profile/gtiso.bsky.social/post/3m2g65jrdvc2v
Pancakes
work 250g milk into 300g discard (which takes ages – I use my fingers), add an egg and a tablespoon of sugar and cook.
Makes slightly thinnish US-style pancakes with a lovely spongey texture.
Serves 2
https://otiveil.wordpress.com/faq/wild-yeast-culture-lievito-madre/#Q9
Other
You’ll also find recipes online for biscuits, crackers etc. but I haven’t tried any of those.
Recipes
Bread
Make biga of 90g starter, 45g water, 90g water; leave till doubled.
Make dough of:
biga
6 cups flour (I generally use 4 white, 2 wholemeal unless I want to make cinnamon raisin bread)
2 cups water
3 T oil
1 T salt
Knead to an elastic dough (5+ minutes) and leave to rise 6 hours – or overnight is fine.
Divide into two loaves
If want cinnamon raisin bread, work in 1/4 cup raisins, 2T sugar and 1 t cinnamon per loaf
Place in loaf tins or on baking trays and leave to rise 6-ish hours till doubled – again, leaving overnight is fine.
Bake 40 min at 190° fanbake.
Pizza
Make biga of 60g starter (30g water, 60g flour) and leave till doubled.
Make dough of:
biga
4 cups flour (all white or 3:1 white to wholemeal)
300g water
2 T oil
2 tsp salt
Knead on a lightly floured surface for at least five minutes into a nice elastic dough. Put back in the bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave till doubled (6 hours or overnight).
Divide dough into either 4 or 8 depending on the size of pizza plate you’ll use – 4 is probably right for a typical pizza plate but 8 works well in our skillet.
Allow to rise 6+ hours, covered with damp teatowel.
Roll out and top with pizza toppings and bake at your oven’s hottest setting for maybe 10-15 minutes. We find the toppings sometimes burn before the base is done, but covering the pizza with a baking tray prevents that.
Once finished, turn oven to 190° fanbake then slash and bake loaf - check after 25 min OR bake balls as buns - check after 18 min.
If you don’t want 4 pizzas you can freeze the leftover dough (then return to room temperature and use) or bake the balls as small loaves at190° fanbake (check after 18 minutes).
Buns
Make biga of 60g starter and leave till doubled.
Make a dough of:
biga
4 cups flour (all white or 3:1 white to wholemeal)
300g water
2 T oil
2 tsp salt
Knead on a lightly floured surface for at least five minutes into a nice elastic dough. Put back in the bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave till doubled or overnight.
Divide into 16 pieces; form each into a ball and cut a deep cross on the top.
Place on an oven tray covered with baking paper, well-spaced.
Leave 8 hours (or overnight) till well risen.
Put in a cold oven set to 190°C and bake as the oven heats up – should take 45-55 minutes to be done.
Foccacia (I haven’t tried this)
Make biga of 60g starter and leave till doubled.
Make a dough of:
biga
4 cups flour (all white or 3:1 white to wholemeal)
300g water
2 T oil
2 tsp salt
Knead on a lightly floured surface for at least five minutes into a nice elastic dough. Put back in the bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave till doubled or overnight.
Divide into two and put into two square 8" pans.
Make indentations with your fingers and rise till doubled (8 h).
Put on toppings, drizzle with olive oil, bake 220°C for 15 minutes then 180° for 20-30 more.
Torta di rosa (rose cake)
Make biga of 80g starter, 40g milk (not water), 80g flour and leave till doubled.
Mix:
biga
340 grams of flour
100 grams of sugar
40 g/ml of milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
2T lemon zest (optional)
Add 100 grams of room temperature butter OR 16g olive oil, 64g coconut oil, 20g water. Add extra flour, sparingly, until can be kneaded. Once it starts to give off bubbles as you work it, place in a covered bowl and leave somewhere warm 8h+.
Filling:
100g butter
100g sugar
Beat to a fluffy cream - if butter is soft, can do with a fork
Shaping:
Move dough onto a very lightly floured surface and roll it into a 60x40cm rectangle, 2-3mm thick. Try to keep thickness as even as possible.
Spread the filling evenly across the dough with a spatula.
Roll tightly from the long side, giving a 60cm snake. Cut in half, then half again until you get 16 pieces.
Place on buttered dish, well-spaced. We find you can put 9 in a 25cm round tin and 7 in a 15cm one.
Leave to rise somewhere warm 8-12 hours.
Baking:
Put the rolls in cold oven. Turn onto 170°C (fan) and cook till top is brown. Check after 20 min - expect to turn now, take smaller one out after 5 more min and the larger after a further 5.
Donuts
Make biga of 60g starter, 60g flour, 30g water
Mix together:
biga
350g white flour
50g sugar
pinch of salt
two egg yolks
120mL milk
zest of an orange or a lemon (optional)
Knead until smooth.
Add 50g softened butter bit by bit and knead until it’s smooth again.
Leave till doubled (or overnight).
Roll out 8-10 mm thick on a lightly floured surface and cut into rings or just into triangles. I found that the dough that had been recombined many times as I rolled out the scraps to make more circles was much less nice – I recommend cutting out rings just once then cutting up the scraps and cooking them ‘as is’. When we made it all into rings we got about 12 donuts.
Stand on a floured surface and leave till they’re visibly risen but not necessarily doubled (6-ish hours).
Heat oil to 160 - 170 °C and cook in batches – turn them after they turn golden on the first side.
When they’re golden on both sides, drain and dust with icing sugar.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/202958956891/?multi_permalinks=10162129603786892
Cinnamon rolls
Make a biga of 100g starter, 50g milk, 100g flour and leave till doubled.
Make a dough of:
85 g milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp orange essence
350g flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
50 g sugar
50 g butter, softened OR 32g coconut oil, 8g olive oil, 10g water
Make into a dough, adding butter last. Knead at least 5 min till you have an elastic dough, then leave till doubled (8h-ish). Can then leave in the fridge up to 8 further hours if needed.
Knead, roll into a 35x45cm rectangle, spread with filling* and roll along the 45cm side.
Cut into 9-12 pieces and put in a lined 9x9" pan.
Leave in a warm place till they're touching each other (3+ hours).
Bake in pre-heated oven at 180C till golden brown (approx 30 min).
*filling:
80 g ground walnuts or almonds
1/4 cup sugar
40g melted butter
2 tsp orange zest
tbsp ground cinnamon
When a bit cooled, drizzle with glaze of 1 cup icing sugar with 2-5T water and 1tsp orange essence.
Based on: https://allyoukneadisbread.com/lievito-madre-cinnamon-rolls/
Plain savarin cake (with rhubarb and elderflower variation)
Note: this is for a 9” Bundt pan, but you can also do this in a 9” loaf tin. You shouldn’t need to use baker’s release paste if you use a loaf tin – just butter it.
For the biga:
60g lievito madre, 30g milk, 60 g flour
For the cake:
biga
2 c flour
1/3c sugar
1/2 t salt
1T olive oil
6 eggs - approx 320g
2T water
2T coconut oil, softened but not melted
2T lemon zest
For the soaking syrup:
1 c sugar
1 c water
2T lemon juice
1 T lemon zest
For the cream:
300mL cream
1/2 c plain yogurt
2T icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
Also need around 500g stewed fruit OR fresh berries (probably need less than 500g for fresh).
Directions
Day 1:
- Bring lievito madre starter to room temp (~2h).
- Make the biga. Leave till doubled (~4h).
- Put biga, flour, sugar, salt into a beater bowl. Make a well and add olive oil, eggs and water. Beat (K-beater, not dough hook) for about 5 minutes to make a thick, sticky batter.
- Gradually add the coconut oil, beating until the mixture is smooth, elastic and shiny. Finally, fold in the lemon zest. Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel and let rise till doubled (~12h).
Day 2:
- Thinly coat Bundt pan with baker's release paste, tipping out then blotting any excess and making sure to do the central pillar. When the batter has risen, stir it down, then pour or spoon it into the prepared pan. Cover with plate (cracked slightly) and let rise until it's doubled and the pan is almost full (maybe 1cm from the top - it doesn't rise much in the oven). (~6h)
- Heat oven to 180°C and bake 20-25 min until the savarin is risen and golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Should be really dry - much less moist than a 'normal' cake.
- Remove cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5–10 minutes. Poke holes in the surface of the cake with the skewer to help soak up the syrup.
- When savarin is cool enough to handle, remove it from the pan and pour half of the syrup into the pan. Place the Bundt pan inside a bowl to catch any spillover, then carefully place the cake back into the savarin pan to soak up the syrup. Gradually pour the remaining syrup over the surface of the cake, letting the syrup soak in and trying not to let it overflow. Leave cake in the pan for about 5 minutes to let it soak up the syrup.
- Carefully turn savarin out of cake pan onto serving platter. Pour any leftover syrup from the savarin pan or the spillover pan over the cake and leave it to cool completely.
- To serve, fill the centre of the cake with cream, decorate with some of the fruit and serve with the remaining cream and fruit.
To make the soaking syrup:
Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and simmer 5 min - should thicken slightly. Strain and set aside to cool.
To make the cream:
Whip the cream to soft peaks.
Stir vanilla into the yogurt and gently fold it into the whipped cream.
Gently fold in the sifted icing sugar
adapted from: https://heresthedish.com/2021/05/23/yeast-leavened-cake/
Note that the orginal recipe was for an elderflower and rhubarb cake made with regular yeast. I have made it following the method above and using the below ingredients. It was delicious but a lot more work.
For the cake:
biga: 60g lievito madre, 30g milk, 60 g flour
2 c flour
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t salt
3 T elderflower cordial
12g olive oil
6 eggs - approx 320g
36g coconut oil, softened but not melted
2T lemon zest
For the soaking syrup:
450 rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1½-inch slices
2 T lemon juice
1 T lemon zest
2 T elderflower cordial
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c elderflower cordial
1/4 c sugar
Cook the rhubarb with the lemon zest, lemon juice and first measures each of elderflower cordial and sugar.
Strain and keep the liquid (you can reserve the rhubarb to add to the compote if you like.)
Measure 2/3 cup of rhubarb liquid and pour into a saucepan (reserve the rest). Add remaining elderflower cordial and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and allow to simmer until thickened to a syrup. Strain and set aside to cool.
For the rhubarb compote:
340g rhubarb, cubed
3/4 c sugar
(add the reserved rhubarb to the compote if desired)
For the elderflower cream:
300mL cream
2 T elderflower cordial
1/2 c plain yogurt
Pani popo
Make biga of 40g starter, 20g milk, 40g flour. Leave till doubled.
make dough of:
2.5c flour
1c milk (scant)
2T sugar
1T oil
1 egg
Knead well, adding extra flour if needed. Place the dough in a covered bowl and leave to double.
Form into 10 buns and place in a greased oven-proof dish. Leave to double.
Make sauce of:
1 can Kara coconut cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1T cornstarch
Cook on stove with stirring till thickens. Gives scant 2 1/2 cups.
Pour half the sauce over the buns and place in oven at 200°C.
Add remaining sauce after 15-20 min and bake for around 30 min total.
based on: https://www.tiktok.com/@parisnuku/video/7251793113138646290
Adapting other recipes
You can use the starter in basically any yeast recipe, and for many recipes that are usually leavened with chemical leaveners.
For savoury baked goods, use 60g of starter for each 500g/4 cups of flour in the original recipe.
use the 60g of starter to make a biga (so add 30g of water and 60g of flour) and leave it to double before putting it in with the other ingredients.
when you add in all the other ingredients, reduce the flour by 100g as there was 40g in the original starter and 60g added when you made the biga; similarly reduce the liquid by 50g.
For sweet baked goods, use 80g starter per 500g of flour AND butter or oil.
when you make the biga, don’t necessarily use water for the liquid. If the recipe uses milk or orange juice etc. for it’s main liquid then use that instead.
as before, reduce the flour by 135g and liquid by 65g.
Establishing a starter
These are the instructions I used to make my starter.
Day 1
In a bowl, mix 100 grams of high grade flour (or rice flour if you want to make a gluten free version), 50 grams of millilitres of water (it's the same: thank you, decimal system!), amd two teaspoons of sugar, or malt, or honey.
Move onto a lightly floured surface and work into a ball. Cut a cross into the top of the bowl and place in a jar or container of some kind.
Cover with gauze and an elastic (if you have it) or a wet towel and some glad wrap. It's important that it's not airtight.
Leave somewhere in your kitchen, preferably in a dry spot (mould is the mortal enemy of this thing), best if next to a fruit bowl. We want chemical things to start happening. Which they will.
Leave for two days.
Day 3
If you followed the procedure on day 1, your starter should be no longer a doughy ball but a spongy lump sitting at the bottom of the container. The top surface should have hardened into a crust. You might see some bubbles through the walls of the container if it's transparent.
The first thing to do is inspect it and make sure it has no obvious mould spots (they *will* be obvious if so). If it does, you have to throw the whole thing away. It could smell slightly vinegary but that's fine - in fact, that's a good thing.
Causes of mould are, well, a mouldy environment, or large variations in temperature. But hopefully you will be fine.
Scrape the crust off the starter and spoon it out of its container and into a bowl. If you plan to be reusing the same container, soak it in hot water now.
Take 100g of starter and throw away the rest.
In the bowl, add 50 grams or mls of water to the starter and mix with a fork. It will produce a whiteish liquid.
Now add 100 grams of flour, mix with your fork, transfer onto a lightly floured surface, knead into a ball, cut a cross on top of the ball. Same as on day 1.
Place the starter in your clean container, cover with rubber band and gauze (if you have it) or a wet cloth covered with glad wrap. Leave again in a dry place in your kitchen, near fruit if possible.
Day 5
The first step is always to inspect your starter for mould spots. If you see any, I'm afraid you'll have to chuck the whole thing and start again. (Don't worry, this is not as much of a risk once the starter is established, unless you really neglect it.)
A starter in good shape should be spongy, covered by a layer of crust, and showing some air pockets if the walls of your container are transparent.
Procedure is the same as the other day: scrape off the crust, spoon the starter out of the container into a bowl.
For the very last time, I'm going to get you to take 100 g of starter and throw away the rest.
Add 50 g/mls of water if the starter is moist and rising well, 100 if it's dry.
Mix well in the bowl with a fork. The mixture should be white and frothy by now, the smell distinctly acidic: a lumpy yogurt.
Add 100 g of flour. Mix with the fork, move to a floured surface, knead into a dough.
Once again, we're not going to seal the container: cover with gauze and a rubber band, or a wet towel covered with cling film. You want air to be able to come through.
Leave somewhere warm and dry in kitchen, near a fruit bowl if possible. But with a difference this time.
Keep an eye on the starter over the next 24 hours. Does it double in size before shrinking again? More than double? Not rise at all? These observations will dictate the next steps, and how soon you can start using it.
Day 6
The first step every day so far has been to inspect the starter, but this time I've also asked you to check its state over the past 24 hours. If you've observed a noticeable rise in the starter, and the formation of large air pockets, you're just about ready to use it.
If you haven't, it means the bacteria colony isn't properly established yet. In that case, repeat yesterday's procedure and leave the starter out of the fridge for one more day, then come back to the thread. Otherwise...
Feed 100 g of your starter with 50 g of water and 100 g of flour, in the by now usual way. Except this time (unless you feel that the starter isn't ready) you're going to put it in the fridge, in a closed (but not airtight) container.
No need to throw the rest away - can use this to make flat breads etc. (see discards section of document).
Day 7
starting making bread rolls. Can use this recipe for pizza or foccacia as well.
take the starter out of the fridge and let it sit for a few minutes until it's back at room temperature. Then we take 60 g and do the usual feed: 30 g of water mix with a fork, add 60 g flour, mix, then knead...
Put in a small, transparent container. Cut a cross on top of the dough, cover with gauze or a cloth, then leave to rise. In winter, the perfect spot is the switched-off oven with the light on. You want it to double in size but no more. If it gets there in two hours, it's very healthy. If it takes four, it's still pretty good. If it doesn't quite get there but almost, it's okay. If it doesn't rise at all, you need to go back one step and repeat yesterday's procedure.
When the yeast has risen to the required level or thereabouts, mix it in a bowl with 300 g of water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add 2 teaspoons of salt, 4 cups (500 g) of high grade flour (or 3 cups high grade and 1 cup wholemeal). Mix in the bowl...
Then move onto a lightly floured surface and knead for at least five minutes into a nice elastic dough. Put back in the bowl, cover with a cloth and leave in a cupboard overnight.
Feed 100 g of starter as explained yesterday, put that back in the fridge, and deal with the 90 g excess as you see fit (cook & eat, store in fridge, freeze - again, as explained yesterday)
Day 8
Your dough should be somewhat proofed now - it doesn't matter lots how much, as we're making bread rolls and they're not that fussy.
No need to knock the dough back. Just divide into 16. Form a ball with each and cut a deep cross on the top.
Place on an oven tray covered with baking paper, well-spaced.
Put it in a dry place such as a cupboard or just the oven. Set the alarm for 8 hours. In 8 hours they should be well-risen.
Turn the oven on at 200°C, and stick the bread right in, without waiting for the oven to heat up. Cook for 45-55 minutes, without fan, till done.
Your starter should now be ready to use in any of the recipes in this guide.
https://twitter.com/gtiso/status/1432453539318534144
