One of the old editions of Joy of Cooking (1975) has a recipe for sourdough starter in it.

I tried it and kept it going for several years. Made many successful loaves out of it.

Best of luck!

When it starts to smell like a men’s locker room, it’s ready.

This is the method described by Ken Forkish. I've used it several times and it works great.

Materials needed:
6 qt round polycarbonate tub with lid.
Kitchen scale, preferably one that has a tare function
Whole wheat flour (I prefer rye)
All purpose flour

I do all the mixing by hand using a latex glove.

1) Add and mix equal parts(by weight) whole wheat flour and warm water(~90F), 500 grams of each until everything is incorporated. Leave in a warm (~75F) place uncovered. After 2 hours cover the tub and leave overnight.

2) After 24 hours, throw away 3/4ths of the mixture. Repeat step 1.

3) By day three you should start to see some bubbling and get a sourdough smell from your culture. Repeat steps 2 and 1.

4) Day 4. The mixture should have risen at least by 50% at some point and you should see more of the development noticed on day 3. At this point you want to throw out almost all of your culture, but retain 200 grams. Use the empty weight of your tub to calculate this weight. Repeat step 1, except cover immediately.

5) On day 5 you will transition to your regular feeding schedule that you will repeat each day. Throw away all but 150 grams of your culture. Add 400 grams of A/P flour, 100 grams of whole wheat flour, and 400 grams of warm water (~85F). Mix and cover.

On day 6 you should be able to use your starter to make bread about 7-8 hours after you feed it. If you don't want to feed every day, you can store your culture in a covered mason jar in the fridge for about a month. You'll need to go back to step 5 for a couple of days before your culture is ready to use.

Rye sourdough pancake recipe

Enjoy and do let us know how it turns out!

http://www.thejoykitchen.com/recipe/basic-levain