Followed the sourdough starter recipe from the perfect loaf. Somehow seems like I managed to screw up even the first 24 hours :)
I used Central Milling Organic Whole Dark Rye Flour and mineral water. I don't have a dough proofer so just stuck it in the oven with the light on. I live in SoCal, my kitchen is not very cold. Maybe 73F.
Unfortunately after the first 24 hours there is no movement in the jar, unlike in that blog post where it almost overflowed. Should I toss it and start over or continue with the process? Did I do something wrong?
It will be fine! Just give it a stir to redistribute the food for the growing beasties.
Do check one thing though, how hot does it get in that oven? If it’s around 82F then it will be fine. If it’s much hotter than that, beasties won’t grow. You could leave it at room temperature. 73 F is fine.
Oh by the way, all that activity in the first few days are usually caused by the wrong type of beasties growing in there. It takes time for the right ones to grow. So if starts yo stink, don’t give up.
In the meantime, search for the pineapple solution on this site. It will give you lots of info and another method to try if this one doesn’t work out.
Don't throw it away!
Building a starter takes on average 7-10 days and for the first 1-2 days there will be minimal activity. It is uncommon to grow within the first few days, but not unlikely. The person in the blog just might have had some super organic flour or Himalayan spring water or something else that contained a lot of wild yeasts.
Just keep stirring and feeding and eventually there will be significant activity.