Step 1

Start in the afternoon. About 3:00 p.m. This is the warmest time of the day, hence it is ideal to initiate a starter. But if you live in a warmer climate, you might want to start early in the morning.( For more clarity on the schedule, refer to the schedule table in the post)

Step 2

Take a clean and dry glass jar, preferably sterilized. We start by mixing 5 grams of flour in 5 grams of water. Mix well to ensure that no dry flour patch is left. If you are using whole grain rye flour, increase the water to flour ratio to 1:1.25.

Step 3

Use colder or warmer water to adjust the temperature of the starter to 80 0 F ( read temperature section).

Step 4

Place the lid on the jar properly, ensuring that no air enters the jar. The thing is that it is a very little amount of flour and water mixture. We do not want it to dry due to being exposed to the air.

Step 5

Let it stay like that for about 24 hours.

Step 6

Feeding l: Next day: 9:00 am

Step 7

Place the jar on a weighing scale and tare it. Now add 5 g of water and mix well, to obtain a batter-like consistency, now add 5 g of whole wheat flour (or whichever flour you are going to use). Mix well so that there are no dry patches of flour left. Scrape down the sides and even the top.

Step 8

Cover with the lid. Please note we are not going to discard anything until the starter starts to double up in volume.

Step 9

In the first 24-48 hours we want to initiate maximum microbial activity in the starter. It will only after a substantial fermentation has kicked in, we will try to clean your starter and try to strengthen the desired microbiota.

Step 10

Place a rubber band around the jar to mark the level of starter or use a marker. Now observe the fermentation activity in the starter. Depending on the weather and climate in your place, it may take longer. So wait till some fermentation activity kicks in.

Step 11

Feeding ll: 2:00 pm - 3:00pm

Step 12

You should start to see good activity in the starter by this time. Do not discard anything, just add more flour and water. 20g of flour and 20 g of water this time. Starter: flour: water ratios will be 1:1:1for this feeding and onward. Though you can modify it if your starter is very vigorous. ( read the maintenance notes)

Step 13

Place a rubber band or maker to measure the microbial activity in the starter.

Step 14

Feeding lll : 9:00 p.m.

Step 15

The starter would have doubled or tripled in some cases. If this is not the case for you, do not worry. Just follow the schedule, it will kick in eventually.

Step 16

Now discard 50 g of the starter and retain only 10 g.

Step 17

Then, add 10 g of water, mix well and then add in 10 g of the whole wheat flour. Mix well, mark, and cover the starter.

Step 18

Feeding l: 9:00 am

Step 19

In 12 hours your starter would have doubled or tripled. And there are chances that it might have already fallen, which translates that the starter is hungry now.

Step 20

Now discard 20 g and retain only 10 grams of the starter. To do that you can simply place the jar on the weighing machine and tare. Now start removing the starter from the jar. You know that there was 30 g of starter in the jar last night, so just keep removing it till the scale reads -20g.(Alternately note the weight of the jar before starting, it makes all measurements easy.)

Step 21

Now you will be left with 10 g of the starter. Feed it with an equal quantity of water and flour, 10 g of each. Cover the jar and mark the levels. Observe how much time is it taking to become double or more in volume.

Step 22

Observe the larger bubbles on the sides and especially at the top surface you would be seeing some dimples left by the bubbles. When the starter would be rising or in its exponential ( log phase) you would observe a dome-shaped top surface. But when it has peaked, the top surface will start to become straight and then fall eventually. The perfect time to feed again is before it starts to fall or when it has just begun to fall.

Step 23

Feeding ll: At 2:00 p.m

Step 24

Discard 20 g and feed the remaining starter with 10 g of flour and water each.

Step 25

If your starter starts to fall much before say in 2-3 hours, modify your feeding ratio to 1:2:i.e. for 10 g of starter, feed 20g of flour and water each.

Step 26

Feeding lll: At 9:00 p.m.

Step 27

For the night we have to scale the volume of the starter as it will be staying at room temperature for 12 hours. So, discard all and retain only 10 g of starter. Add 30 g of water, mix well, and then add 30 g of whole wheat flour. ( feeding ratio 1:3:3).

Step 28

Please note there is no one size fits all recipe for making a sourdough starter. Your starter might not be peaking in even in 6 hours or 12 hours. In such cases don't increase the feeding ratio. Stick with 1:1:1.

Step 29

By now, you will have an idea about how much time does the starter takes to peak. So schedule your feeding ratio and timing according to that. Feed it at the peak, preferably before it starts to fall.

Step 30

And it might be the day to change the flour if you want to. Start by using half the volume of bread flour or all-purpose flour ( whatever you want your starter to be).

Step 31

Feeding 1: 9:00 a.m.

Step 32

Start by retaining 10 grams and discarding the rest. First, dilute it with 10 g of water and then feed it with 5 g of whole wheat and 5 g of all-purpose flour.

Step 33

By feeding 2 or 3, replace the whole wheat flour with all-purpose flour.

Step 34

Repeat your last feeding schedule. If you want to test if your tap water will work, this might be the time to test it.

Step 35

If everything looks well, you could use this starter to leaven some pancakes. Give it at least 10 days before you use it to leaven a bread.

Step 36

Repeat the process. You can limit the feeding to 2 times a day placed 12 hours apart, by simply scaling the feeding ratios. You can conveniently go up to 1:6:6 ( in the case of very vigorous starters) But 1:3:3 will just work fine for most of the cases.

Step 37

If you always retain 10 g of the starter, you will have a stable starter of 70 g by the end of the 10th day. After that, if you want to scale your starter, just retain more. You would have got the hang of it by that time.

Step 38

I would wait for up to 2 weeks before baking with the starter, but many of my friends have baked bread with it much before that with satisfactory results.