How I did it: I mixed half a cup of whole-wheat, organic flour, with a quarter cup water. I covered it in a damp cloth and let it sit.
After twelve hours, I checked if it was getting bubbles and rising. But it wasn't. So I stirred it fast and covered it again and let it be.
After twelve more hours I checked it again.
When I was giving it a last chance and almost ready to give up, with two days gone, I finally found a few bubbles. When I stirred it I found that there were lots more under the surface. I discarded a half of it, and added a quater cup water, stirred, then a half cup flour, and stirred. I did that every twelve hours until the starter was a week old. Then I fed it for the last time and put it in the refrigerator.
Twice a week, if I don't bake, I take it out, feed it and put it back. I don't discard anymore. I would, though, if it became too big.

Lessons & tips: Many people say to use organic flour. I've never tried anything else, so don't know. I'm sure some people have done this successfully with non-organic.
Same for whole-wheat. It's supposed to have more organisms on it. But some people say to create the starter with whole, but maintain it on white. I'm not using any white, and it works fine. My reasoning is, sourdough starter existed many years before white flour, so it should be possible.
If you don't bake much, the starter will grow bigger with feeding. It may overflow, and the amount of feeding won't be enough for it (you'll have to feed it proportionate to size, and you see, pretty soon you'll have a room full of starter... in that case, you have to discard some starter before feeding.
If you do bake, the starter may "shrink", because you'd be using some of it. An extra feeding will solve the problem.
A good starter, when fed and left to rise, double its size and becomes very airy, almost like whipped cream.

Resources: www.sourdoughhome.com

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May 25, 2011, 03:41AM PDT | 0 comments | 9 cheers