First thing, weigh your starter and give it its own weight in half flour half water. So if it weighs 2 oz,, stir in 1 oz. of water and 1 oz of flour. Mark the height of it on your jar or bowl with a piece of tape or a Sharpie (alcohol removes Sharpie from glass--put some on a paper towel and scrub lightly). Check in 8 hours and see if it has doubled. If yes, that's very good. Check again in four more hours and see if it's still tall, or if it has sunk. If it didn't double, or if it sank, remove half, and feed again. You can keep the discard in a jar to use as wet flour (not for cake!).

Repeat the same every 12 hours until it doubles and holds.

Now, you can divide the starter. Instead of discarding half, put half in a new jar. Feed the first half the normal way, label it, and put it in the fridge to keep. Feed it again in a week.

Feed the second half with a quarter whole wheat flour, and the rest white. Next feeding, if it still seems lively and happy, increase the whole wheat feed to half. If it seems sluggish and miserable, repeat the quarter, until it seems happy. Work your way up to feeding 100% whole wheat by quarters to 100%. Once it's doubling, holding and happy, you can put that one in the fridge, too.

If you want to preserve some long term, you can feed your discard and once it has doubled, paint it thinly on a sheet of parchment paper with a pastry brush. Once it's full dry, roll the paper into a cone and put the end in a jar, and crumple, so the dried starter falls in the jar. I'd put it in the fridge, to keep it from getting hot, but it doesn't really have to stay in the fridge if you have another cool space that won't kill it.

Sourdough, especially whole wheat, is an exercise in patience. Your whole wheat dough will likely only rise 1.5x. Don't over hydrate. Don't over handle. Commercial ww, like KA is easier to use than fresh milled or artisan milled. The bran can cut the gluten strands, which may never recover, so be gentle with the risen dough. Adding some acid (vitamin C, citrus juice, vinegar), will condition the dough, and during a long rise will help neutralize antinutrients.

Before you make a sourdough loaf, you need to feed make a preferment. Take out your starter, divide and feed, but instead of discarding, put the part you're keeping in a small bowl, and feed it 2-3 times its weight. Keep track of the amount so you can subtract it from the flour and water of the recipe.

For whole wheat, it's a good idea to "soak" the rest of the flour as well. Stir in the rest of the water from the recipe, and any other grains or seeds and the acid. It may feel very dry but that's okay. The flour will absorb the water and get soft and wet. Loosely cover your bowls with whatever you prefer (cloth, wrap, foil, lid, bowl cover)--it's for keeping the dough clean.

Do the preferment and soak in the evening so it'll be ready to work with in the morning. Follow the rest of your recipe. Many modern recipes call for covering shaped dough with plastic wrap. I hate that and use the old fashioned, clean damp tea towel (woven, not terry). Dampen with warm water, squeeze out any excess, and drape lightly.

Those are the hows. Recipes are another story. Mine are ideosyncratic, rather than T&T, and I can't say they'll work with different flour or different pans.

Good luck!

That sounds hard.....
A starter isn't really very fussy but about a few things....
Temperature..... too hot, like HOT will kill it.....adn too cold like refrigerator cold will slow the growth. And I am pretty fussy about using purified water with no chlorine.
Outside of that feed it equal amounts of water and flour....I don't weigh nor measure, I just eyeball the amounts.
When it's getting started I feed morning and night.... but the amount of starter in my jar is about a cup. So I pour off half into another container, and feed what's left with what appears to be an equal amount of flour and water.....stir and let if do it's thing.
I keep a discard jar in the refrigerator and pour my discard into that and use in things calling for discard....or pretty much anything i am making.
So now your starter should be about double what it was and bubbling nicely.....so after 8 hours feed again....etc.
When it doubles in about 3 hours it's strong enough to make bread. Before it gets strong enough you can add a little yeast to give it a boost and get a good sour dough bread

CC, I learned it here!

This very good video explains it in detail.

Love the discard green onion pancake.

Keeping it active is easy, but at the same time I like the advice to also try a simple no-knead bread using commercial yeast.

While you're starting out, it's important to stick to one thing. Baking with commercial yeast is different than baking with wild (sourdough) yeast. Normal hydration, kneaded bread is different from no knead. I don't find that the skill transfer from one to the next well, though the results--bread--are similar. Equally, Fresh Loaf is a fantastic site, but could be really overwhelming to a beginner.

This blog looks good: https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beginners-guide/

Sourdough.com may be too much to start with, but is good, as is Breadtopia.

Lets go back to step one.

You are give sourdough starter by a friend.

It needs to be fed. One cup of flour and 1/2 cup warm/not hot water

Stir and let rest on counter for about 2 hours. Then into the fridge.

Only needs to be fed once a week.

Post-it note or some sort of reminder like Sunday morning. (blueberry pancakes or a savory green onion and sesame treat).

Done.

Then decide at your leisure, with a little research, how to proceed.

KingArthur is great. Link, HERE (no annoying blog ads)

Includes lots of ideas for uses of the discard when feeding.

I just think in times like these with flour shortages it might be good to just take a deep breath before tackling sourdough as a first bread project. Or just give it some time. Even just a couple days. It is a lovely thing to have in the fridge.

I should add that DH is the baker in the family. He learned from his mother at around 5 years old. My mother never baked but from mixes occasionally. Dad tried a few times and failed but he can't follow directions. And never really enjoyed it.

The only reason I posted Jim's no-knead is that it is often immediate success first try. The carrot blog creator mentions her first bread baking back in 2013 was full of experimentations and failures. Right off the bat she mentions her first bread baking success was Jim's no-knead and posted a link. Then moved up and on from there.

Her version of no-knead is good being so pic heavy. I did hit one of those ads by mistake and could not find the close-it X anywhere, grrr, 😂

Absolutely inspired us as well. DH makes all the boules, burger buns, biscuits. I make a variety of crackers, english muffins, corn bread, corn cakes, and sprouted grain breads.

I disagree with some of the advice from plllog. My starter is very active. I fed it around 8:15 this morning. It is already more than doubled. It probably won't hold that for even 4 more hours. I fed it last night and it was dropping back down by the time I fed it this morning - it won't hold up high for 4 more hours after it's risen up because it keeps eating. It makes fine bread. (Note: I've fed it twice because I'm making one recipe that I started this morning and I'm making another recipe that I'll start late afternoon. Normally, I'd just feed it once before starting the recipe)

Also, I prefer to have a larger ratio of new water and food to retained starter. I keep a fairly small amount of starter and feed it an amount that's 2 to 4 times the weight of the starter.

Note, temperature will also affect activity of the starter. My kitchen is around 72 degrees. If it were cooler, things would take longer.

Bake with Jack has a good series of videos and a recipe for beginners on sourdough. Here are links to his sourdough playlist and the recipe:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL23nszfeBoFncMGN800zJvujGQGrpR-Wk

https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/blog-1/2018/7/5/sourdough-loaf-for-beginners

Yeah, there's all kinds of ways to do it. To be clear, the 8 hours to double is for whole wheat. It's slow (that's in a warm kitchen). It does also work with white, though. Part of the issue is how strong you want or need your starter to be. Mine, both ww and white, hold their rises, and that's the goal I was taught to shoot for. That will help your bread dough hold a rise.

Too much info for my non-baking head! I think I'll just try the no knead bread to start with......or walk over to the french bakery a couple of blocks away! Thanks anyway!

Nancyjane, I totally get it! There's a lot to know. Just put the starter in the back of the fridge and buy a nice loaf at the bakery. Support local business!

Question for you sourdough experts... I am not ready to try this, but I'll file the answer in my noggin : )

Once you get your sourdough started started.... what if all good intentions go awry and you have left your starter in the fridge for, say, a month. No feeding. Can it be fed and used?

ETA: I meant to type sourdough starter, started.

It depends on how healthy your starter is. If it's mature enough that the other microorganisms have died, and the yeast is strong, there will be some die off, but underneath, there should be some dormant yeast which will revive with a few feedings. This I know from experience. :) But I did feed cold starters weekly for months before I went negligent. The drier the starter is, the better it keeps. It never hurts to dry some starter and keep that in the fridge too. I neglect my "French" starter terribly, but it always perks up right away because it's so low hydration. Don't worry about a black top layer. Check carefully for any mold and remove that carefully (usually the yeast will kill any mold that tries to get in, but if there's a lot of black die off on top, there could (not likely) be mold higher in the jar. Remove most of the black part and feed the rest, and feed it a few more times so it'll be fat and happy, and put it away again.

We each have our own. Labeled 'mine', 'yours', 😂

His gets much more hooch liquid. I feed mine more often. Many, many ways to feed and keep in fridge hibernation. DH has much more experience. He let it go about 10 days and it was very active in no time. The two ball jars have a good spot in the fridge so hard to ignore. If I get a bit of 'hooch' I pour it off. He stirs his in.

Before covid I really did not care that much about a starter. That was his

deal-i-o. Just no time until now. Trying discard english muffins tomorrow.

Like any fermentation your environment will be different than others. When you are ready, maybe the late summer/fall, and once your starter is active, give it a few months feeding once a week for a couple months. Then start a second one using others advice. Your kitchen/fridge temp and active humidity, natural yeast in you kitchen....then you can test longevity.

I know some bake less in the hot summer months so they dehydrate and freeze their starter. Never tried that but we take it with us on vacation. Then did leave some in the fridge at home for 2 months and that one died.

We are not consuming much bread like I first thought a couple months ago. Enough in the freezer for the next month or so. Down to about two pounds of flour. With so many other choices of various flours in the freezer I've not touched, like corn meal, masa. Hesitating to order flour for a while.

Definitely enjoying the learning process like you will eventually. Maybe a year from now I'll go back to no interest. Always nice to have the knowledge.

My past starters have done okay (revived with a few days of feedings) after being left for a month in the fridge. The starter I had in January didn't survive being neglected in the fridge for around 6 weeks. So I'd say a month can work but it's getting close to the edge.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, just adding more info. My mature starters can go several months without feeding. They're not happy about it and there's some die off, but they perk right back up at the first feeding. A lot depends on how strong and mature your colony is.

Thanks all, I appreciate the advice. For various reasons, I'm holding off on starting sour dough. This winter should be a good time to get it going. I keep creme fraiche and yogurt going, so once I start the starter, it shouldn't be a problem. I rather like the idea of using one discard as another starter. Hadn't occurred to me!

I started a starter about the first week of March.....maybe last week of February.....and then this covid thing happened and flour became scarce....so I covered it with a piece of plastic and a rubber band and stuck it way in the back of the fridg....It had only been going about 3 weeks. It spent longer than that in the refrigerator. And when I fed it it came bubbling back within a couple of hours.
There is a site called sour dough science which debunks a lot of common myths about sourdough.....and explains rather well how they operate. It seems the maturity of the mix has little to do with how long a starter can keep between feedings.
https://modernistcuisine.com/mc/sourdough-science/