Start by mixing up equal parts bread flour and whole wheat flour. (125g bread flour/125g whole wheat is a nice amount). Add equal parts water (250g) and mix with your hands. Leave on the counter for a few days. I cover the bowl with a paint strainer to keep bugs and stuff out. In about 48 hours you'll see bubbles. Name the starter (mine is Prudence, or sometimes Elizabeta) and start feeding twice daily. You do this by discarding half and replacing it with an equal quantity of bread flour/water.
In a few days you'll see this:
It wil go from slack and slimy to sort of stiff and bouncy. Test it by tossing a bit in some water; if it floats, it's ready to raise bread.
Prudence was started ten days ago and today we are having hamburgers:
Fresh from the oven:
And not a bad crumb:
Keeping your starter in fridge favors a lactobacillus that makes acetic acid, for a nice sour dough. At warmer temperatures lactic acid is favored and you'll get a less sour flavor. We like it sour. You can adjust the flavor during raising similarly.
Don't bother using fruit peels and such to get started; those are imported yeasts and will only prolong the time it takes to get your starter up to speed. A robust starter is virtually bulletproof; I've kept them in a jar under the truck seat while camping in near 100F temperatures, resurrected them from scrapings from a jar lid, and from a piece of tin foil. Don't buy a starter yeast, at least not to start with, that will be an imported yeast and will also prolong the process.
A very good source is TheFreshLoaf; there is a ton of information there, but the format is challenging.
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