You can get dry starter granules for a buck donation and an SASE from Friends of Carl, the Oregon Trail starter guy.

It's easiest to get a good starter, if you want to do it on your own, from whole rye berries (grains), like from the bulk bin at the hippie or health food store, or from musty grapes. It's a whole process, though. You have to feed it and change its bed dilligently, as if it were a puppy. And older starters are stronger. If you want more info on any, just ask.

If you don't want to do a lot of reading, it's best to start with Carl's, or get some from a friend, or I can try sending you some.

Generally, the designs are made with a really sharp paring knife, or a lame (pronounced lahhm, which is a fancy French razor blade on a holder. My favorite, however, is a plastic handled, tiny ceramic blade. The bread I currently bake doesn't lend itself to designs however. The reason for the is slitting of the tightly pulled surface means the steam will go out through the slits when the bread goes in a hot oven, rather than cracking from the pressure wherever the lines of the loaf are weaker. There are stencils and books, but you have to make the right kind of crust, as you do for pie crust art, to make it look just so. I haven't used a stamp, but I believe it’s the same principle, with the design cutting into the pulled surface, and expandinding as it rises.

To start with, learn some recipes you like, and get to know how the work in your kitchen and oven. A knife will be sufficient to be starting with. You can make petals/leaves, lines, starbursts, etc., with nothing more.

Biggest hint—use bleached white bread flour to start. That'll give you the easiest success.

Good luck!

Oh! Easiest! It takes time, though you can bake with it in the meantime. Get a packet od Active Dry Yeast (or jar of yeast and measuring spoon). Put 150g of Unbleached flour in a jar with some extra room. Add half the yeast (by eyeball) or 1 tsp on top of the flour. Save the rest of the yeast, air tight, in the fridge. Add 120g distilled water to the jar. Stir. A small soft spatula or bottle scraper works really well for this. Mark the outside of the jar at the level of the top of the dough, with a pen or masking tape (Sharpie comes off with alcohol, china marker comes off with acetone, masking tape is repositionable). 8 hours later the dough in the jar should be at least double the height you marked.

After 12 hours, measure out 100g of the dough into a clean jar, and mark the first jar ”discard”. That's discarded from the starter jar, but good for baking with. Put the discard jar in the fridge. To the 100g of dough, add 50g of flour and 40g of water. Mark the level. Wait 12 hrs. Repeat, adding the new discard to the jar from the fridge, putting the 100g of dough into a third jar, and washing the second with hot water, but no soap. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Keep feeding twice per day for two weeks, then once per day for two weeks, so long as it holds at double for at least eight hours. Then feed up and bake with it, and store your newly fed base starter in the fridge, and feed once per week if you're not feeding up and using it.

What happens when you do this is the wild yeast from the flour takes over from the commercial yeast and crowds it out. Meanwhile, instead of going through die off (aka the fishy phase) and all that, you can get right to baking, because in the end, you just want your loaves to rise.

I've heard she's quite a good cook!

I wasn't sure if starter granules were any good...but since you suggested it....Someone brought me back a package from their Alaska trip. Apparently sourdough is a thang there. I could try them...

I was grocery shopping. A lady struck up a conversation...next thing she's telling me she's a world class chef "and"....she wrote to Taylor Swift....asked her if she needed a chef. 😂She never heard back. Yeah...I heard Taylor's a GREAT cook! Must be a weird life to be a celebrity.

Yes, do try the granules. Just like beginning with commercial yeast, over a little time, your own will take over, but starting with an established starter should get you past the die-off phase, which is scary and confusing and does not make you a better person.. It's a good idea to use distilled water for feeding starter, just to keep down the competition. Good luck!

I've seen some pretty designs snipped with scissors!