Instead, I followed the directions in the included Quick Start Guide booklet, which indicated that I simply needed to fill the water reservoir and flour hopper, set the current day and time (and the day and time I wanted the starter to be ready—you can choose up to seven days ahead; I chose seven), add a little bit of existing starter, and press “Auto Mode.” Almost immediately, a torrent of flour released from the hopper and began mixing into my seed starter with the stirring paddle. (King Arthur recommends keeping a portion of your starter in the fridge in case things go wrong, and I second this suggestion.)

Oddly, no water was dispensed in this process, so post-mixing, my starter was now in the form of an under-hydrated ball.…