Reply #16: Great news!

[housewolf]

One suggestion I would make is not just to add flour and water, but to pour out about half (or more, depending on how much you've accumulated so far) each time, then "double" the remainder by adding adding back an equivalent amount of a water/flour mix. There is no benefit in accumulating large quantities of starter because unless you "double" each time, the starter will acidify and weaken.

For instance, if you pour out all but 1 cup, then you'll want to add back a 1 cup mixture of water/flour. Leave the starter our and do that every 8 or 12 hours until the starter gets to the point where it will reliably double in volume at some point within the 8 hr period. That is the point at which the starter is "fully activated" and that, ideally, is when you'll want to use it for breadmaking. After that there is a period where it falls back down. Do this for a few days and keep an eye on it - you should find that it's activation time becomes fairly consistent and you'll learn how long it takes for it to fully activate. It's the flour that is the nutrition for the starter while the water creates a moist environment helpful for yeast & lactobacilli growth. I like to measure by weight - to me it's a simpler, easier, more flexible method, so I would keep a cup of starter then add back 4 oz of flour and 4 oz of water, creating somewhat of a thick mixture. If you measure by volume, the ratio is 3 parts flour to 2 parts water (you'll often see sourdough directions calling for 1 c water and 1 1/2 c flour). Each time I feed the starter I'd dump out all but 1 cup then add back 4 oz of flour and 4 oz of water. If I wanted a "thinner" starter, I'd still dummp out all but 1 cup and add back 3 oz of flour and 5 oz of water. Doing this over a period of time will create a mature, stable, consistent starter that you'll get to know, can depend on and know how to work with.

You might want to find a warm place for it to incubate inside the oven with the light on, for instance, or in a box with a light, or something. Most commercial bakeries incubate their starters at about 90 degrees - that seems to be optimum for yeast development. Once your starter matures you can transition it to room temp - depending on house temperature. The yeast in sourdough starters is not as temperature-tolerant as the yeast that we buy tends to like warmer temperatures. Once your starter is mature you can experiment with various temperatures and see how they affect the yeast, using the amount of time it takes for the starter to double in volume as a guide.

Hope this all helps - sourdough is a very fun journey and oh! so rewarding!