Read Baking by Hand for Free Online

containers worked great for me.
    A spoon. Or something to stir with. Or your hands.
    A scale. Weigh all ingredients. Weigh all ingredients.
Weigh all ingredients.
    Unbleached, unbromated white flour. This is the food for your growing culture, so you want it to be as untreated as possible. Remember, bleaching is just a way to make flour look whiter by using lovely chemicals Don’t feed it to your yeast, or for that matter, your family, okay?
    Whole rye flour, preferably organic. Whole rye has a higher nutritional content than white flour and will make for a more appealing environment in which wild yeasts and bacteria will thrive. Getting the organic stuff will ensure that it has not been chemically altered or enhanced in any way. It’s not completely necessary, but it may speed the process along.
    Dechlorinated water. When you’re just getting started, it’s best to give the yeast every possible advantage. If your tap water smells like the YMCA pool like ours does, it’s a good idea to let it sit in an open container overnight to disperse some of that chlorine. If you forgot to do that and you’re raring to make starter, a gallon of bottled water from the store will get you a week or so into making your culture. At that point, the culture should be booming and won’t be harmed by what comes out of any home’s tap.
DAY 1:
    6 oz/170 g white bread flour
    6 oz/170 g whole rye flour (organic preferred)
    12 oz/340 ml distilled or dechlorinated water
    Mix all the ingredients and store in a covered container at 75°F/20°C or warmer for 24 hours.
DAY 2:
    10 oz/280 g flour/rye flour mixture
    8 oz/230 g white bread flour
    10 oz/280 ml distilled or dechlorinated water
    There will be minimal, if any, activity at this point. Mix all the ingredients and cover. Keep at 75°F/20°C or warmer for 24 hours.
DAY 3:
    10 oz/300 g sourdough culture
    8 oz/230 g white bread flour
    10 oz/280 ml distilled or dechlorinated water
    You should start to notice small bubbles and/or foam forming at this point—you can now call it a (very weak) sourdough culture! If that isnot happening, make sure your mixture is warm enough. It will not smell particularly nice at this point. Mix all ingredients and cover. Keep at 75°F/20°C or warmer for 24 hours.
DAY 4:
    10 oz/300 g liquid sourdough
    8 oz/230 g white bread flour
    10 oz/280 ml distilled or dechlorinated water
    Development should be continuing, with slightly larger bubbles forming as well as foam. Small amounts of liquid may form at the top of the mixture, which is normal. You should begin feeding two times per day at this point.
    Mix all ingredients and cover. Keep at 75°F/20°C or warmer for 12 hours.
    Continue this 12-hour feeding schedule for at least 3 days. After one full week from your first mixture, your sourdough culture should be strong enough to begin maintenance feedings, which will contain a lower percentage of sourdough culture. You can also start using your regular tap water at this point:
    2 oz/40 ml liquid sourdough
    8 oz/230 g white bread flour
    10 oz/280 ml 75°F/20°C tap water
    Once you have a healthy, vibrant starter chugging away, you can do one of two things. First, you can keep it on your counter and feed it every day. You can certainly get away with once-a-day feedings if you reduce your starter amount by half. If you plan correctly and know when your next bake is going to be, just switch back to your 12-hour feedings a couple of days before the big day so it can gain some momentum.
    Or, if you know you’re not going to be baking for a while, or you’re going out of town, or you started one of those fad diets that tells you that the staple of civilization is suddenly going to kill you, just give it a feeding and pop it in the refrigerator. When you know your next baking day, or you come to your senses re: the fad diet thing, pull the starter out. Give it 12 hours to warm up, and then give it at least 2 days of 12-hour feedings to get the yeast and bacteria back on