Following Robertson's starter recipe for the country bread, I made the starter Wednesday morning. This morning (Friday) it had risen to about double. So when I came home for work this evening it is already falling. Did I miss the time frame to start feeding it? His recipe calls to discard 80% and feed the remaining 20% when that time comes. I just don't understand when is the appropriate time to do this. At the peak of the rise or after it has fallen back down....
I'm unclear as to if you already have a working starter or not..?
If you do, when to use or feed the starter can depend slightly on what flavor profile you're looking for.
Knowing what Chad Robertson likes in bread, he would definitely err on the side of using a starter while it's still on it's "way up" or juuuust at it's peak. Using a "young levain" like this will yield you less sour bread than if you let it mature and even fall.
Hope this helps..
Robertson speaks of feeding the starter once it starts to show activity. If it is ripe, smells like stinky cheese, then start feeding it. So on the 3rd morning it had risen, smelled fruity to me, therefore I left it alone. Then I fed it the next morning. The starter had fallen, developed o crust on top and smelled funky to me. Thats when I started its first feeding.
Should I fed the starter when I saw its initial rise or even waited another day and let it get more ripe?
It depends on what flavour profiles you want out of your starter. As Robertson explains, a young starter will give you more 'milky', 'sweet' and lactic acid aromas,while a more ripe starter will give you more of the acetic acid flavours.
Since it is a new starter, try out feeding it at different times of the ripening process, as well starting with a different 'seed' amount when feeding and take note of the different rise times and aromas that are produced. Keeping a feeding journal is always a fun project and helps you remember what worked and what did not.
Dont get to mixed up in when to feed and when not to feed. It is not an exact science.