Recipes

Mix 50g bread flour and 50g lukewarm water in your fermentation bottle until no dry flour remains. Use the rubber marker band to mark the level of your mixture and the date marker to keep track of when you started.

Loosely cover the bottle so air can escape, then leave it somewhere comfortably warm for 24 hours. Use the thermometer to keep an eye on conditions - around 24-26°C is a good place to aim for.

You might see a few bubbles, or you might not. Both are fine.

Discard all but 50g of starter. Add 50g bread flour and 50g lukewarm water, then mix well. Move the rubber band to mark the new starting level.

Repeat the same process every 24 hours: keep 50g starter, then feed it with 50g bread flour and 50g water.

As the days go by, you should start seeing more bubbles and your starter should begin rising after each feed. It should also develop a pleasantly tangy smell.

Your starter is ready to bake with when it reliably doubles in size within around 4-8 hours of feeding, looks bubbly throughout and has a fresh, pleasantly sour aroma. This might happen around day 7, but don't worry if yours takes longer.

• Follow your starter, not the calendar. Seven days is a guide, not a deadline. Temperature, flour and your environment can all affect how quickly it becomes active.
• Use the marker band. Position it at the starter's level immediately after feeding. You'll be able to see at a glance how much it has risen.
• Keep it cosy. Your thermometer takes the guesswork out of finding a comfortably warm spot.
• Don't be fooled by an early burst of bubbles. A new starter can become very active in the first few days, then seem to slow down. Keep feeding it consistently while the culture establishes itself.
• Once it's established. If you bake regularly, you can keep your starter at room temperature and feed it regularly. If you bake less often, store it in the fridge and refresh it before you're ready to bake.