Day One: Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and water, stirring until thoroughly combined. Cover the bowl and let the mixture rest overnight at room temperature.

Day Two: Uncover the starter and stir it several times; a dough whisk is a helpful tool here. Re-cover and allow the starter to rest overnight at room temperature.

Day Three: Discard half the starter (about 1 cup or 173g) and feed the remainder with ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (128g) cool water and ½ cup (60g) Gluten-Free Bread Flour. At this point, the starter can be transferred to a crock or large jar; a vessel with clear, straight-sided edges will make it easy to gauge the daily growth of your starter.

Days Four, Five... Repeat the process from day three. Sometime between days five and seven, you'll notice that several hours after feeding, the starter will have doubled in size and should be bubbling. At this point, it's ready to use in a recipe (like our Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread). If it takes longer than this, simply keep repeating the once-a-day feeding process until it matures fully, bubbling nicely and doubling in size within several hours after feeding.

Once you’ve established a mature, healthy starter, it can be kept in the refrigerator between feedings. Be sure to feed it at least once a week for long-term storage. To feed the starter for maintenance, combine about 1 tablespoon (11g) starter with ⅓ cup (40g) Gluten-Free Bread Flour and about ⅓ cup (80g) water. Discard any remaining starter, then return the fed portion to the refrigerator until it’s time to bake or to repeat the feeding process.

To ready your starter for baking: Measure out about 2 tablespoons (22g) starter and combine it with ⅔ cup (80g) Gluten-Free Bread Flour and a scant ¾ cup (160g) water the night before you want to bake. Allow it to rise until doubled in size and piquant in aroma, about 10 to 14 hours. This will yield enough ripe starter for using in Gluten-Free Sourdough Bread.