This is a simplified recipe for Sourdough Starter that Cotto use for Focaccia, Pizza, Pita Bread and Ciabatta. It takes a few days to develop so make sure to have this prepped ahead of when you want to use it for your baking. It's best followed on their Instagram stories to understand the stages which you can see here.

What do you do with your Sourdough starter discard? We're obsessed with Erin Clarkson from The Cloudy Kitchen's approach to (well everything) but also Sourdough & the 'waste', follow her for tips, tricks, recipes and food envy here. With more info on her website here, (try her brown butter cookies, you won't regret it).

INGREDIENTS

120G Wholemeal flour
120g Tepid water
150g White Flour & tepid water (to feed your starter)

METHOD

Mix the wholemeal flour and water in a bowl and place into a clean, dry preserving jar (ideally with a wide-mouth lid like a cliptop). Leave the lid open for your starter to breathe, with a tea towel covering the jar to protect it and set aside for a few days. Under 'normal' circumstances day 3 your starter should be bubbly on top and spread to the sides of the jar, in Summer it could be ready after one day.

At this point weigh 150g of the starter into a bowl then add 150g of Tepid water and 150g of White Flour then mix, this is now your 'fed' starter. Discard the starter you've not used from your jar and place the 'fed' starter back into the jar. Leave as before to breathe, with the lid off but covered for another 2days.

Day 5 repeat the step above as you did on day 3. Continue to check every 2days, and repeat the feeding process as we did above and on day 3 until your starter's ready. How will you know? You want it to look like this

Once your Starter has reached this point it's just a matter of up-keep, which you do following the 'feeding process above';