DAY ONE- Mix together 50 grams of water and 50 grams of fresh milled flour. Stir until no dry flour is left. Cover loosely and let this mixture sit for 24 hours. It is helpful to mark your jar at the top of your starter each time you feed it. Also, make sure you are keeping it somewhere at room temperature. (Not near any other ferments or cultures, they like to cross contaminate each other!)

DAY TWO- Observe your starter, smell it, check it for any fuzzy mold. It should start to smell like it is fermenting. This day we are just checking on it, and nothing else. Continue to let it sit for another 24 hours.

DAY THREE- Take 50 grams of your sourdough starter, add 50 grams of water into a small clean bowl, then stir. Add 50 grams of fresh milled flour, and stir to incorporate. Put in a new clean jar. Empty the rest of the sourdough starter into the trash (not the sink) and clean the jar for the next day. *You should start seeing a bit of activity on this day. It may start to smell somewhat sweet or fruity. It may have even risen at this point. (This is typically a false rise, and it will seem to lay more dormant after this first "false rise." This large false rise usually occurs around day 3 or 4.)

DAY FOUR TO DAY SIX-Take 50 grams of your sourdough starter, add 50 grams of water into a small clean bowl, then stir. Add 50 grams of fresh milled flour, and stir to incorporate. Put in a new clean jar. Empty the rest of the sourdough starter into the trash (not the sink) and clean the jar for the next day. Repeat Each Day. It may go through times of very putrid smells, and may not rise at all during this phase. But, I promise, it is doing something. Inside there is a battle going on.

DAY SEVEN- Now is the time that we will start feeding twice a day. You may be one of the lucky ones, and already have a doubling starter. But, even if you do, I recommend still feeding twice a day for 3-7 more days. This will make your sourdough starter nice and strong!

DAY SEVEN TO DAY FOURTEEN- Take 50 grams of your sourdough starter, add 50 grams of water into a small clean bowl, then stir. Add 50 grams of fresh milled flour, and stir to incorporate. Put in a new clean jar. Empty the rest of the sourdough starter into the trash (not the sink) and clean the jar for the next feeding. Repeat Each Day, twice a day. (as close to 12 hours apart as you can.)

DAY TEN- By day 10, as long as you have been consistent with your feeding your starter should be consistently doubling between each feeding. If this is the case, then your sourdough starter is ready to start using in any discard recipe! (If not, then keep up the good work of discarding, and feeding twice daily 12 hours apart.) I recommend these Sourdough Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, YUM! Just not quite ready to leaven bread yet...

DAY FOURTEEN- Ok, as long as things have gone according to plan, and you did all the hard work, you should be ready to try your first loaf of bread! To know if it is ready to make bread, it should be at least doubling within 6-8 hours of your feeding. Your sourdough starter is letting you know it is strong enough to raise some bread, now it is mature, and it only gets better the older it gets. So, your first loaf of bread may not be perfect, but it will be a great point to jump on in!

Now that you are ready to use your sourdough starter, make sure you are feeding it with enough food & water to use in a recipe, and still be able to keep 50 grams to feed for the next day. You never want to use up all your starter in a recipe. Then, you will have to start all over! (For example, if I want to make my cookies I mentioned above tomorrow, it calls for 120g of starter. So, I will make sure to feed my starter the night before extra 60g flour+60g water+50g starter = 170g total. I can use 120g for the recipe, and still have 50g to feed for tomorrow. So, just add up an make sure you have enough for whatever you want to bake the next day, and still have 50g remaining.)

MAINTENANCE- Now that your starter is nice an active, you can leave it at room temperature, and feed (and discard) it at least once per day. It may be ideal to feed it twice a day, this is for optimum results. If that is not something you are able to do, or you are going on vacation, then you can place your sourdough starter in the fridge. Once it goes in the fridge, this will change the flavor a bit to be a bit more sour or acidic. Make sure to feed it (and discard) at least once per week, but the less often it is fed, the more sour it will get.

HOOCH-If your sourdough starter gets hungry, or is in the fridge for a bit, then it may form a black liquid on top. This liquid is called "Hooch." This is not dangerous, or bad. Just pour it off into the trash, and discard and feed. It is letting you know it is hungry!

MOLD-If at any point you notice anything fuzzy OR pink, yellow, or orange on your sourdough starter this is likely mold. Unfortunately, your whole starter has been contaminated, and it needs to be thrown in the trash. Even if you think you can scrape it off the top, it is already all throughout your starter, and isn't visible. Mold means it is not able to save.