not my image, don't have reference for it, very pretty photo though
The Sourdough, The ultimate and God's of bread :) at least that how I felt when I made my first one.
You will never forget, it is like your first kiss, amazing.
It is not hard, just lengthy, I am not sure if you can buy the starter off the shelf, I have never intended to do so.
Chapter one, The Mighty Starter
First advice, make sure the room temperature is around 21°C (70°F), that could be one the most crucial part of the process, I lost so many starters just because I ignored this.
Use equal part of flour and water and wild Yeast!!!!
Wild Yeast?
Glad you asked. Yeast is everywhere, in your all purpose flour, in the air you breathe and almost everywhere.
Difference between the Wild Yeast and Commercial Yeast is simple, Commercial Yeast is a tamed and toughen up yeast. You pour it in water and maybe add some sugar leave it for a bit and off you go.
Wild yeast is temperamental, very hard to be harnessed, however it gives a very amazing flavour and texture to your bread which you will not be able to get form commercial yeast.
So don't cut the corner please.
... Mix equal part all purpose flour and water
image by http://thekitchn.com
That is pretty much it, from here on you need to look after your mix.
I would suggest keep feeding flour and water to the mix in the next 5 days, you will see soon bubbly mixture.
Note
Don't overfeed, add small amount of water and flour to keep the mixture semi liquid, thick mixture will take longer to get ready for use.
You know it is ready when it reaches frothy stage.
You can use some temperature-controlled bread proofer which you should be able to buy online if you are really serious about it.
I used some towels around the glass bowl which I have my starter in. Bowl sits in the corner of the kitchen.
Here are couple of things you might want to try:
- After day 2 get rid half of your mix so you calm the fight down among yeast for food
- Then feed them half of the original amount flour
- I would add half a cup of water ( lukewarm ) and mix it through
- Remember look at your mix, don't let it to get thick
- Day 3 and 4 you might want to feed twice
- http://morningchores.com suggested every 12 hours
I simply prefer to attend to my starter every morning, check the bubbles, texture and smell. If there are not much activity happening or smell is very fade then I feed them
Check these images, they really helped me.
I use these images as guidance: ( reference pinchmysalt.com)
| Day 1 | Day 2 |
|---|---|
 |  |
| Day 3 | Day 4 |
|---|---|
 |  |
| Day 5 | Day 6 |
|---|
Remember these are only reference photos, I keep my starters a bit warmer than recommended so I get this consistency of day fifth in the shown images on the fifth day. You as a newbee should stick to the rule and follow the temperature that I have suggested.
You might get it at day sixth or seventh.
In the next part I will show you how to maintain your starter, stay tuned :)
I think this should do for now here are some good references that I have used over and over: