Hello everyone! First time poster and first time keeping a sourdough starter, so I apologize if this is a silly question.
I started my starters on Monday, and while they are doing well (I think) the book that I'm learning from has less than precise measurments for discards, which it has suggested i start tomorrow (day 4). On this forum I see a lot of talk of ratios including the amount of starter, but I'm not entirely sure how much starter I'm going in with initially. I don't have a food scale, unfortunately, and short of emptying out both jars to fully measure my lads, I'm not sure what else to do aside from discarding about half and continuing the feeding as usual. Is my source ok in allowing me some wiggle room, or is this a more exact science that I'm not equipped to practice?
You will find the full range of suggestions on this forum- from weighing accurately to the gram or simply eyeballing about half. There are as many ways of doing it correctly as there are grains of sand on a beach. Stay grounded in the real world. Unless you are completely OCD, you generally do not weigh and measure exactly if you are filling your coffee cup halfway, adding a sprinkle of salt-to-taste (add .5g?), adding a little water to loosen a thick sauce,etc. Yet you can still enjoy the products of such inaccurate concoction.
Remember how much of of the history of sourdough has come about. It sat in a crock on the back of a woodburning stove and was fed and used daily. "Discard" was never wasted-it was baked into something. "Discard" became a term when sourdough was a fad that required the byproducts of the yeast digestion be reduced sothey were not swimming in their own.... you get the idea. It was like "cleaning the cage". Starter was trekked across plains and through wilderness in a pouch next to the skin and fed whatever starch could be found. It can survive and thrive under many circumstances so whatever you do with it, it is not an exact science.
HOWEVER,
The purpose of recipes and weights and measures is to give the best possible chance of replicating someone else's success. "If you follow my weights/measures/technique, you will have a successful outcome that looks like this". But because of the flexibility of sourdough starter there will be MANY successful recipes/methods that seem contradictory. ALL are correct.
So do not get hung up. Find a recipe and method that makes sense for you and go with it. My personal recommendation is to use small amounts of flour/water to start-maybe 1-2 tbsp. Mix it into a thick pancake batter in a covered container and go from there.
Have delicious fun!
Thank you so much! It's really good to know that there are lots of different methods. I'm on day 4 of caring for my starters, and I really feel like i went in blind. I really appreciate the help and support! :)