Sourdough Installment #4: Feeding Frenzy

How's everyone doing?  I left the house today and went on a walk today (win!). I didn't manage to shower or not wear athleisure ware "to work" (lose!).  So all in all a medium day.  But I'll take it.

Up until 2 days ago, I was working from our dining room table.  I have a laptop and Chris has a desktop, so he got the office and I was relegated to the dining room, or sofa, or any other sitting surface in the house.  This put me very close to the kitchen.  I found myself grazing all day long, on a mild feeding frenzy, especially as stress levels increased,

But 3 days ago, it finally occurred to me that I live with a man who loves to build things and has a wood shop in the garage. So I asked him to build me a desk, and he delivered!  We set it up the next day in our bedroom.

So now my commute each morning involves going back upstairs, closing the door, and beginning work.  Consequently, I am now a whole flight of stairs away from the kitchen and pretty much have only been coming down for lunch and when my day is over.  I have put myself on a feeding schedule, it seems.  And because my starter and I are cosmically synced, it too is on a feeding schedule.  How about that for a segue?!

Feeding

Equipment:

• Starter food (or All Purpose flour)
• A spatula or spoon
• A rubber band

General Mindset

Things are going to get a little easier and more regular now.  Less washing of bowls and measuring cups.  You are in the home stretch!

You don't need to worry too much about the quantities from here on out. We're going to eyeball it. 

The general goal now is feed your starter every 24 hours, roughly at the same time of day if you can manage or remember.   We are going to do this probably for 3-5 days. 

You are looking for a few things over the next few days:

• Your starter to bubble, then rise, and then fall at a somewhat predictable schedule
• The smell of the starter will change as well. I recommend sticking your nose in there and smelling it throughout the day to see how it changes.  You'll notice it smells a bit different after a few days.  Or if you don't care that much, just follow the schedule!

Starter Status

Here's what my guy looked like after about 24 hours. Not too many bubbles on the side, but bubbles and foaminess on top.   The water and flour had also separated a bit.

   

Feeding Process:

1.  Use a rubber band to mark the level of your starter.
   

   

2. Then pour or scoop out approximately 75% of the starter.  Precision not necessary here.  Just eye ball it.  The rubber band helps you see how much you have poured out.
   

   

   

   
   

3. Now feed it some starter food/flour.  A half a cup maybe.  Again, I just scooped some in there. Your goal is to replace the 75% you poured off with flour and water.
   

   

4. Add some water to the container and mix until you get a thick batter.    If the volume is a little more or less, it's fine.  I ended with a little less.
   

   

5. Use your spatula or hands to scrape down the sides so you can see what's happening in there.  If you container gets super cruddy, you can pour it all into a bowl and clean out the container.
   

   

6. Put the lid back on and return it back to it's home. 
   

   

7. That's it!  Rinse and repeat for several days.

Note:  For those thinking this is using up way too much flour, not to worry!  You can reduce the amount of your starter once you get it going . Here's my old starter I've had for months on the left, and my photoshoot/new starter on the right that I'm starting up right now with you.  You can see the volume is about half.  That is, you can reduce the volume once you get it going and it will be just fine.  Truthfully I neglect it all the time so don't feed it that often except when I'm ready to bake.