How to make and care for a sourdough starter

[Pauls]

Sourdough starter is a living breathing friend. You have to take care of it to get the goodness and wonderful taste out of it.
Temperatures of 120F will kill your starter. Keep it below that temperature!

Needed:
1 quart canning jar (cleaned and bacteria free - I cook the jar in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes at 15 psi but fresh out of the dishwasher will work)
1/2 cup flour (I like hard red winter wheat flour that I grind myself but any wheat flour will work fine - you can use other kinds of flour too; Rye is a favorite for some people)
1/2 cup warm (110F) water (don't use chlorinated tap water to make your starter, use bottled or distilled water)

Place the flour in the jar
add warm water and mix vigorously (get as much air into it as you can - it speeds the process up)
Cover loosely with plastic wrap or use cheesecloth between the jar and ring (remember it has to breathe!)
Place in a warm place 80 - 90F for 24 hours (stir it whenever you think about it)
after 24 hours add another half cup of flour and another half cup of warm water (110F)
stir it vigorously to get as much air into the mix as you can.
Cover it as before and return it to the warm spot for another 24 hours, stirring it when you think about it.
The instructions that I used told me to throw out half the mixture on the next day and add another half cup of flour and water but I used that to start another batch of starter in another clean jar.
Add another half cup of flour to each jar and another half cup of warm water to each jar.
Cover them as before and snuggle the two jars in the warm place for 24 hours, stirring them when you remember.
The next morning you might see small bubbles forming in the jar(s) or they might be foaming like crazy - each batch is different.
If no bubbles are present don't worry it will happen.
Add another half cup of flour and warm water to each jar, cover and store for 24 hours in that warm spot. try to remember to stir them vigorously when you get the time.
The next morning if there are no bubble yet then dump half of the mixture out from both jars and add a half cup of flour and warm water to each jar and mix vigorously.
Cover and store in a warm place as before. If there are bubbles in the starter then pour off half of each jar into a bowl and feed all three a half cup of flour and a half cup of warm water.
stir it vigorously, cover and store in a warm place overnight. Stir each as you get the time to add air to the mixture - caution at this point it can be active enough to double in volume overnight so make sure there is plenty of space in the jar or bowl.

The next morning you can place one jar in the fridge for storing up to a couple of weeks. Leave one jar on the cabinet for use later and stir the contents of the bowl down to make some hotcakes:
See the hotcakes recipe elsewhere in this thread.

[Pauls]

Once your starter is established you can use tap water when feeding it.
A brownish liquid will form on the top of your starter over time. This is good! feed your starter and stir the liquid back in. That liquid is what gives your sourdough its sour "twang".

If the liquid is blue or green your starter has been attacked by unwanted bacteria and you need to get rid of the starter and sterilize your jar. Then use some previously dried starter to get your starter back.

NEVER add commercial yeast to a starter to "give it a jump start". The commercial yeast is suited to work with sugar and not the starches in flour. Commercial yeast is incompatible with the acetobaxter bacteria that makes sourdough "sour". Commercial yeast will quickly die and leave you with nothing. The yeast you need is floating in the air and in the flour (bleached flour takes longer to get started because the yeast in it has been killed and you only have the yeast in the air to get the process started)

When you have a starter that is good and sour and it proofs (bubbles and expands rapidly) then you should feed it (add equal amounts of flour and warm water) and then spread some on a sheet of waxed paper in a thin layer to air dry. Place the dried starter in a paper envelope and put it in your pantry or a cool dark place. It will store at least 4 years with no attention at all. This is a backup in case you lose your starter for some reason. Just add a few flakes of the dry starter to a cup of flour and a cup of warm water and by the next morning you will have a cup of active starter again.

You can also share the dried starter with friends along with the instructions for care and feeding and your favorite recipes.

I save some dried starter each year as an insurance policy. Nearly any contamination can ruin a starter so it is good to have some backups. You only need a couple of pieces about the size of a quarter to make a new batch of starter so each time you dry some it is enough to make a gallon or more starter. After four years just add the remaining dry starter to your starter when you feed it and get ready to dry another batch.