Like everyone is saying, once a starter is established, it’s so easy to maintain and bake with. If you are used to making bread with commercial yeast, rejoice, sourdough is much more robust and forgiving. I keep mine in the refrigerator and when planning to bake take it out and refresh for a day or so. You can use it for anything you made with yeast, I’ve even made croissants! Soft bread, all sorts of stuff but the easiest and the one my kids call “the sourdough” I do this, for two loaves:

1kg flour, any mix of strong white flour and whole grain seems to work but 100% white rises slower and 100% whole grain is harder to handle and denser, 30-50% seems to work best for me.

600-800 grams of water, start with the lower end until you are used to handling the dough.

20-25g of salt.

200g of starter

That’s it. Mix them and do “stretch and fold” about 4-5 times over the next two hours, bulk rise a couple more hours, shape, then either rise and bake or refrigerator overnight.

I bake in a preheated cast iron Dutch oven, 450F, 25 minutes with lid and 25 minutes open.

My tip is refrigerate the shaped dough overnight instead of rising it on the counter. So much easier to score. If you are having trouble shaping, again, refrigerate. Cold dough is easier to handle and a long slow rise adds flavor.

Not every single loaf will work, I’ve made some doorstops, usually when hurrying.

The Tartine book, this one was the most helpful for me.