Making a sourdough bread starter: Day 1

Lately I have been reading up on bread making, and some of the processes are quite fascinating. When I was younger I used to make some simple bread quite often, but reading up on these other techniques made me want to try my hand at making sourdough bread. To start I need to cultivate a colony of yeast and certain bacteria, and to let it grow for about a week. This colony dough will then constitute 15 to 40 percent of the final bread dough, depending on how sour you wish to make it.

To start you need very very clean equipment, so you don't contaminate with undesired bacteria. I ran all my tools under boiling water to sterilize them. You could perform surgery with these bowls and spoons.

To start you take:

1 cup or 120 grams or Organic Rye flour

1/2 cup or 120 grams of unchlorinated water

Mix these together until you have a thick dough, and place this dough in a container and seal the top tightly with plastic wrap. I used a quart canning jar:

Place this jar in a cool place (about 65 degrees) for 48 hours. I will update as this develops!

To learn about this process I referenced the books: The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and The Bread Bible and it is from the latter that I am taking these steps.

Wish me luck!