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.

Lesson learned
Never put a closed jar of active starter in a warm oven. Never.

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