What you need to start
- A digital scale, a clean jar with room for expansion and a clean spoon or spatula.
- Whole wheat or whole rye flour for the first mix, then unbleached all-purpose flour for later feeds. In the UK, look for comparable plain flour.
- Drinking water, a loose-fitting lid, and tape or a band for the starting mark.
- A spot at steady room temperature. The referenced method starts at about 21°C (70°F). [1]
Wash your hands and start with clean utensils and a clean surface. Leave the lid loose enough for gas to escape. Flour is a raw ingredient and can carry germs. Keep the starter and anything you remove from the jar out of taste tests. Discard the early feed leftovers as you establish the starter. [3] [4]
Day 1. Mix the first jar
Weigh 50 g whole wheat or whole rye flour and 50 g water into your jar. Stir until the flour is fully wet. Scrape down the walls, mark the level and cover the jar loosely. Leave it at room temperature for about 24 hours. Record the time and location so you can tell whether the conditions change.
Photograph the jar straight on, with the mark in frame. A straight-sided jar makes changes in height easier to compare.
Day 2. Keep 50 g and feed it
Keep 50 g of the mixture and discard the remainder. Add 50 g water and 50 g unbleached all-purpose flour. Stir and mark the new level. Leave it loosely covered for about another 24 hours. King Arthur’s method uses the same three weights for later feeds. [1]
You may see bubbles, little movement or a pronounced early rise. Record it and continue. A lively day two can be followed by a quiet spell. A single rise this early gives you little information about whether the culture will raise a loaf consistently. [2]
Day 3 onward. Observe between feeds
King Arthur’s method switches to approximately 12-hour feeds from day three. At each one, retain 50 g and add 50 g each of water and flour. Choose a pair of times you can repeat, such as 08:00 and 20:00. Mark the level as soon as you feed. Use a midday check or a clean high-water mark to learn what happens between feeds. [1]
| What you see | What it tells you | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Bubbles but little movement | Activity is visible, with little measured expansion. | Keep the method steady and compare the next feed. |
| A dramatic rise followed by a quiet period | A young culture has shown a burst that has yet to repeat. | Record it and keep following the feeding schedule. |
| The starter rises reliably at similar temperatures | You have a pattern to check against your bread recipe. | Record how far and how quickly it rises on successive feeds. |
| Fuzz, suspicious growth or pink or orange streaks | There may be contamination. | Discard the entire jar contents and thoroughly clean the equipment. |
For each diary entry, write the feed time, weights, temperature, starting height and next observation. Record a missed check and use the same photo angle when possible. Quiet days belong in the diary too.
What a useful day-five check looks like
If you feed at 08:00, a 14:00 reading gives you six hours of elapsed time. Record the height even if there is little change. If you only see the starter after it has fallen, note that you missed the top and check earlier after a similar feed.
When is it ready to bake?
In the referenced method, the target is a starter that roughly doubles within about six to eight hours after feeding and shows bubbles throughout. Look for that behaviour on repeated feeds before relying on it. Five days is a checkpoint in the recipe. A slower jar can need more time. Keep following the feeding routine and check the temperature and weighing if the rise is still inconsistent. [1] [2]
Consider an illustrative diary. The jar rises once on day two and stays close to its starting mark on days three and four. By day seven, its height is doubling after two comparable feeds, with bubbles throughout. The case for baking comes from those repeatable feeds. If day seven looks quiet, let the evidence change the bake date.
Crispy Crust is being designed to make a starter diary easier to keep. You could record the feed, temperature and photo at each check and see the quiet days alongside the later repeatable rises. That would help you decide whether to move the first bake without having to reconstruct the week from memory.
What if I need to troubleshoot?
The kitchen is cold. Measure the temperature beside the jar. Use the warm-room conditions in the method as your guide, and avoid sudden changes to several ingredients at once.
The starter suddenly stops rising. Check the walls for a missed peak, then compare the last two feeds. If you changed the flour or ratio, return to the routine you were following and record what happens. Use the starter troubleshooting guide for a fuller decision tree.
A clear layer has separated. In a new starter, this can be water separation. Consider what happened before it appeared and check for suspicious growth. Follow the creation method and use the separate surface-liquid guide if you need to tell the two situations apart. [5]
Once the jar rises dependably, build the amount your bread recipe calls for and keep a reserve. Continue with an established counter or fridge routine after the first loaf. [6]