How to Make Sourdough Starter

In a wide mouth 4 cup jar or bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup wheat flour with 1/4 cup All Purpose flour until thoroughly combined.
Using a fork, stir in the water until no dry flour is remaining. The mixture will resemble a thick dough or paste that’s a little on the dry side.
Cover loosely with the lid or plastic wrap and leave in a warm spot in the kitchen (ideally over 70˚F) for 24-48 hours.

Check your starter for activity, sometimes you’ll see tiny bubbles and maybe a little activity. Sometimes you won’t. If you see nothing, give it a stir…cover loosely and allow it to sit for another 24 hours.

By this time, you should see lots of bubbles and expansion of your starter. To gauge how much your starter is growing in volume, you can place a rubber band around the jar at the top of your starter to see if it doubles in size. I prefer to just eyeball it. Discard half your starter (saving the discard in a separate container for later.)
Add 1/2 cup all-purpose flour and 1/4 cup lukewarm water to the remaining starter. Stir to combine until no dry flour is visible. Cover loosely and allow to rest at room temperature in a warm location for 24 hours.

At this point, you should see your starter doubling in volume with lots of bubbles each day. Continue feeding your starter each day by discarding half the starter then feeding with 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup water.
Cover loosely and allow to rest at room temperature in a warm location for 24 hours. By day 7, your starter should be ready to use in your favorite recipe.
To test if your starter is ready to use, feed the starter and time how long it takes to double in size. When your starter doubles in less than 4 hours, it’s ready. Alternatively, you can do the float test. Simply fill a glass with water and place a bit of starter in the water. If it floats, it’s ready to use. (I’m not a fan of the float test….just saying.)

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