DAY ONE

In a small bowl, add 75g all purpose flour, 75g whole wheat flour and 150g water and mix until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl, cover loosely with a kitchen towel and set aside at room temperature for 24 hours.

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DAY TWO

Weigh out 100g of the starter and place in a clean bowl. Discard the remaining mixture. Feed the 100g starter with 50g all purpose flour, 50g whole wheat flour and 100g water. Mix until the mixture is smooth then transfer the mixture to a clean bowl, cover loosely with a kitchen towel and set aside at room temperature for 12 hours.

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DAY THREE

For the next 3 days (day 3, 4 and 5), repeat the feeding process twice a day, ideally 12 hours apart. Weigh out 100g of the starter and place in a clean bowl and discard the remaining mixture. Feed the 100g starter with 50g all purpose flour, 50g whole wheat flour and 100g water. Mix until the mixture is smooth then transfer the mixture to a clean bowl, cover loosely with a kitchen towel and set aside at room temperature for 12 hours.

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DAY SIX

For the next 5 days (day 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) repeat the feeding process twice a day, ideally 12 hours apart. Weigh out 60g of the starter and place in a clean bowl and discard the remaining mixture. Feed the 60g starter with 60g all purpose flour, 60g whole wheat flour and 120g water. Mix until the mixture is smooth then transfer the mixture to a clean bowl, cover loosely with a kitchen towel and set aside at room temperature for 8 hours.

The starter should be active and healthy and can now be stored in the fridge. Transfer the mixture to a clean container with a lid and place in the fridge (after 8 hours after the last feed on day 10). Refrigerating retards the starter and it will "sleep" but fermentation will continue very slowly.

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DAY ELEVEN ONWARDS

Feed the starter twice a week, following the method for day six.  

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MAINTAINING YOUR STARTER

Once the starter is stable, feed the starter once a week to keep it active and ready for use. If there is a period of time where you are unable to feed your starter, a week, month or a few months even, the starter can be easily activated by feeding twice a week (day eleven) until it is active and stable again.

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USING YOUR STARTER

When you want to use your starter, remove 60g of the starter and feed with 120g flour of your choice and 120g water. Mix together in a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to ferment at room temperature for 8-10 hours (ideally overnight), for up to 24 hours during cold months, until it is active and bubbly and ripe to use.

It is important to note that starters are sensitive to temperature changes and respond differently in various climates and learning how your starter responds to your own environment is essential to ensure you are allowing the correct amount of time to activate your starter before use. Generally, in cooler conditions, allow twice the amount of time to activate the starter than in warmer conditions. During warmer months my starter is ripe and bubbly after 12 hours, however in cooler temperatures, it needs 24 hours for it to be ripe for use.

**A sourdough starter is easy to start and with regular maintenance it will happily live in your fridge and can be passed down to future generations.

Make my sourdough recipe.

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