Before any adventures (or misadventures) can take place, you'll need a sourdough starter.
If you're in Leaside or Davisville Village, or willing to venture here...I'd be more than happy to give you some starter from my mama starter, Evie...I cultured her over the course of five anxious days, and I'm proud to say she's healthy, active, and gives some pretty consistently good results.
Here's a pic of Evie, all ready to start making sourdough, after five days worth of daily discards and feeds. I started her with a mix of unbleached AP and whole wheat, some filtered water, and patience. That's it!
Making your own starter is actually pretty easy, but it's a game of patience. Wild yeast is naturally present in the air, and when you're making a sourdough starter, what you're actually doing is pulling in all the wild yeast and giving it "food" - your flour/water mix. The wild yeast, being a living organism, consumes the "food" and gives off carbon dioxide (see...science lesson! I was totally teaching the kids something!), which is what actually causes bread to rise. In this post, I'll give you the basics of how to culture your own starter if you aren't able to get some from me or another friendly home baker.
Find a good glass mason jar (preferable because of the wide mouth), about 1L in size - the wider the mouth, the faster your culturing will go (btw, I've seen people use glass Pyrex bowls, etc. for culturing - you can totally do that too). Before you do anything, wash your jar well and sterilize it (high heat wash in the dishwasher will do the trick). No - this isn't because I'm worried about any lingering COVID-19 virus on your jar - it's because you want a nice clean environment for your wild yeast, and also so that it won't be cross-contaminated by any lingering mold, bacteria, etc. that may already be present in your seemingly clean jar. Glass is preferred because I like to see the action happening inside...otherwise, any non-reactive container will work well.
HOW TO CULTURE YOUR SOURDOUGH STARTER:
Whisk together 1/2 cup of unbleached AP flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat (if available, if not, just AP works), and about 3/4 cup of filtered lukewarm water (we're trying to avoid chlorine - bad for yeasties!). It should form a nice thick paste, but not be dough-like in any way. If it's a little too thick, add a touch more water.
Cover your jar with a cheesecloth, and wrap an elastic around the mouth of the jar. Put it in a nice warm corner in your kitchen (or wherever, but I'm assuming kitchen is where you do your cooking), and leave it alone for 24 hours.
After 24 hours, when you do go check on it, you may see some little tiny bubbles, if not, don't worry! Give it another good whisk, then take out half your starter and...throw it away. But what about all the discard recipes I keep posting about on Facebook...tortillas, pancakes, waffles, crumpets??? In due course...right now, you can't use the discard yet. Put it in the green bin.
The next step is basically the process you'll be following for the next 5 days: whisk together 1/2 cup flour (unbleached AP and whole wheat combined, or just AP, your choice), with about 1/4 cup or a bit more of filtered lukewarm water - once again you're aiming for a nice thick paste. Combine with your remaining starter and whisk together, and cover again with the cheesecloth after you're done. Stick the jar back into its nice, warm corner, and leave it alone. Repeat this step each day for the next 5 days...you'll notice the bubbles getting bigger every day, and by the time you reach the 5th day, you should have large gassy bubbles, and your starter should be looking a little "pouffy".
If at any time during this process you start noticing some clear liquid on top, don't worry! It's part of the fermentation process, and basically means all the "food" has been consumed and your starter is hungry. Just pour it off carefully, and continue on.
On day 6, after you've done everything above, your starter is ready to start making you some bread! At this point, I moved my starter, Evie, to a new, larger home; partly because I bake so much, and partly because I was feeding and splitting starters to adopt out.
Here's a pic of my Evie now, at about 5 weeks old. Still bubbling away happily after her feeds, and giving me my daily bread!