The way I bake is a 'total refreshment' approach
- keep a small starter in the fridge between bakes
- use all of the stored starter to build the levain
- keep back a bit of the levain to be the next starter
I also like use a fairly stiff autolyse in order to get good gluten development, and to tweak various aspects of my process like the amount of starter that goes into the levain, and the hydration level I keep the starter at between bakes.
It can get quite complicated to work out all the quantities, so I put it all together in an online calculator on Google Sheets (link below). The 'master' version is read-only for obvious reasons, so you won't be able to put your own data in. But just use the 'save' menu to take your own copy (or export it to excel) and you'll be able to play around to your heart's content :-)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CO5D-5_3LzySKhsNfwHtNhWqqCCoVIdL6Eff1Idcvdg/edit?usp=sharing
Any problems or suggestions, please ask!
By the way, if anyone's wondering how it's possible to mix 580g of wet levain into 900g of stiff autolyse, the answer is that I stretch out it out like a drumskin then spread the levain onto it like a layer of jam... then I fold it up like a parcel, leave it for twenty minutes or so and then commence stretch and folds. Seems to work :)
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