I finally did it: a starter, a schedule and seven days of flour everywhere. Here is the diary, with every mistake left in.

The plan

  • Buy rye flour

  • Find a jar with a loose lid

  • Name the starter

    • Ideas: Breadley Cooper, Doughlores, Clint Yeastwood

  • Bake something edible

The schedule

  1. 1.

    Mix 50 g flour and 50 g water

  2. 2.

    Wait 24 hours, then discard half

  3. 3.

    Feed again with 50 g flour and 50 g water

    • Use lukewarm water if the kitchen is cold

    • Mark the level with a rubber band

  4. 4.

    Repeat until the starter doubles in 4 to 6 hours

Somewhere around day five things got interesting:

  1. 5.

    Bubbles everywhere

  2. 6.

    A smell somewhere between yogurt and green apples

Day 7: the loaf

The crumb of the first loaf

Not bad for a first try! The crust was thick, the crumb a bit tight. Next time, a longer bulk fermentation.

The week in pictures

And here is the view from the kitchen window on baking day, uploaded at full size to check that big pictures are resized and compressed:

Landscape seen from the kitchen