This is my baseline sourdough recipe, adapted notes from a friend who gave me a starter years ago. It may not be the best, but it is the easiest. It requires no kneading and almost no work and it produces a tasty loaf every time.

Baking

I usually start my dough at night so I can bake a loaf in the morning.

1. Use starter right about when it has doubled in volume since its last feeding.
2. Mix in 100g of starter in a large bowl with 350g of warm water till the starter dissolves.
3. Mix in 450g of bread flour, 50g of whole wheat flour, and 10g of kosher salt.
4. I've also experimented with 50g or rye flour (which I really like), and
5. Increasing or decreasing the amount of non-bread flour maintaining 500g total (so 75g whole wheat and 425g bread for example).
6. Cover and let rise over night. My apartment is often cold so I'll sometimes get it started on a low hot pad for a few hours.
7. The next morning I will turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and put right back into the same bowl. Let rise, covered again, for 90 minutes.
8. After 60 minutes, turn on the oven to 500 degrees with a 4qt Dutch Oven, covered, inside the heating oven.
9. Once the oven has heated for 30 minutes (so the dough has been sitting for 90 minutes total), lift the parchment paper with the dough inside and place it directly into the Dutch Oven.
10. Return Dutch Oven, covered again, to the oven and let bake for 30 minutes.
11. Remove lid and continue to bake for an additional 10 minutes.
12. Remove bread from Dutch Oven and let it fully cool on a rack before cutting into it.

Feeding

I generally feed my started every morning and night. As above, my apartment can be chilly so I use a hot pad on low for a little while after most feedings. I keep a very small starter. This makes it much quicker and less wasteful to feed.

My starter lives in a Tolenti container, which has convenient clear, straight sides. The container weighs 39g so its easy to know how much to feed without dirtying a second dish. I usually keep my starter between 25-50g in total mass.

1. Weigh container with starter, subtract known weight of container to determine current amount of starter.
2. Discard half of starter.
3. Double mass of starter using half water and half bread flour. So if your starter currently weighs 20g add 10g of warm water and 10g of bread flour.
4. Mix thoroughly and use a rubber band to mark the new height of the starter.
5. Cover with the lid, but don't seal airtight.
6. Drape with kitchen towel to keep dark and let rest for ~12 hours. I often will use a hot pad for a few hours to keep it warm.
7. If you know you are planning to make a dough, ramp up the size of the feeds in advance so you have enough starter.