Ingredients and tools

Flour

• I recommend starting with either a whole wheat or rye flour because they tend to have more natural bacteria to begin with. If using all-purpose flour, I recommend King Arthur Flour. 

  Water

• You can use plain tap water; the chlorine in most tap water can inhibit the natural bacterial growth, so you can use plain tap water, or there are a few things you can do to. 

1. Use filtered water from a Brita or similar filter
2. Pour tap water into an open container and let it sit out for 24 hours. This allows the chlorine to dissipate naturally
3. Bring the water to a boil and then let it cool until room temperature before use. 

Container

• I recommend you use any clear container, such as a pint-sized Mason jar or clear food-grade plastic container. Most containers will work as long as they have a lid that fully seals.

Utensils

• You can use pretty much whatever you want for a utensil, like a rubber spatula, or a wooden or metal spoon, 

Optional 

• Having a digital scale makes maintaining a sourdough starter and most sourdough recipes much easier. You can use measuring cups, but this often will not result in perfect, exact results, as the flour can be condensed, leading to more flour in the dough or starter than was intended. 

Getting Started

Day 1:

• To your clean jar, add 100g of whole wheat (or other) flour and 125g of warm water. Mix until well combined, and keep somewhere warm for 24 hours. 

Day 2:

• To the jar, add 75g of the flour water mixture from Day 1, 100g of flour, and 115g of warm water. Mix until well combined and keep somewhere warm for 24 hours. 

Day 3:

• To the jar, add 75g of the flour water mixture from Day 2, 100g of flour, and 115g of warm water. Mix until well combined and keep somewhere warm for 24 hours. 

Day 4:

• By now, you should start seeing the beginning of fermentation in your starter; you should be able to see some bubbles in the flour mixture an hour or two after the feeding, and there should be a slight sour and tangy smell to it. 
• Starting on Day 4, once you notice the beginnings of fermentation, you will start feeding the starter twice per day. Once in the morning, and another 12 hours later, both times with 75g of the flour water mixture from the day prior, 100g of flour, and 115g of warm water. Continue this same process with twice daily feedings on days 5 and 6 as well. 

Day 7:

• At this point, your starter should be active and bubbly after each feeding. Each day for about the next week, feed the starter with a 1:5:5 ratio. meaning 20g of starter, 100g of flour, and 100g of water. After this week is the starter will be well established, and I would recommend switching to a 1:10:10 ratio when feeding, meaning 10g of starter, 100g of flour, and 100g of water. You can also begin to store the starter in the fridge when baking less frequently. By storing it in the fridge, you only have to feed the starter once per week instead of daily. 

Starter Maintenance, tips & tricks

Keeping your starter alive:

• I highly recommend that if you are not baking every day, you keep your starter in the fridge, as this slows the fermentation and allows you to go longer between each feeding. This being said, if you forget to feed your starter, it will still survive. The bacteria in your starter are resilient and will come back with a good feeding. 

Signs your starter is hungry

• Some starters, after they have exhausted their food supply (the feedings of flour and water), will develop "Hooch" on top of it. Hooch is a harmless mixture of excess water and alcohol that forms on the surface of the starter after not being fed for a while. The color can vary from a clear color to darker greys and tans, and it is usually perfectly fine to mix it back into the starter before feeding it. However, if the color is very dark, it may be better to pour it off before the next feeding. 
• When starters are in jars that do not seal, left open to the air, and left alone, the surface layer dries out, leaving liquid starter below a leathery top layer of dried starter.  This dried layer cannot be mixed back into the starter before a feeding and must be removed.

General Tips and Tricks

• Use a rubber band to easily see how much your starter has risen after its feeding. Simply put the rubber band around the jar at the level of the newly fed starter. This way, you will be able to easily see once it's doubled in volume