Ingredients
Flour, equal parts whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. You can blend in advance and keep it in a container, ready to use. Try a high-quality flour like King Arthur.
Water, filtered, room-temperature
Starter, the original stays alive to bake another day
Instructions
- Remove any solid coating on the top. Then give it a quick whisk to blend any liquid that has separated and risen to the top.
- Put a mixing bowl on a digital scale and reset the weight to zero grams
- Pour about half of the starter into the mixing bowl. Let’s say that it is 100 grams.
- Reset the scale to zero again and add 100 grams of the flour blend
- Reset the scale to zero again and add 100 grams of filtered water
- Whisk the mixture thoroughly
- Pour into a clean jar and mark the top of the mixture with a rubber band
- For Baking: Cover with a breathable cloth, such as a napkin or paper towel, and leave in a warm place, like the range top with the light on, for 6-8 hours. For Storage: Cover with an airtight lid and refrigerate immediately for a week or more
Notes
At first, I used wide-mouth ball jars to store the starter, which worked great, but they were too hard to clean. Now I use cylindrical jars with rubber tops, which are much easier to get your hands into. When I store the starter in the fridge, I use the glass tops and mark them with the date. Before baking, I cover them with a clean napkin.