I'm new to bread making but here are my observations and recordings for how people are feeding their starters, for anyone interested.
| By Flour | |||
| Starter | Flour | Water | |
| FSWY | 20.0% | 100.0% | 80.0% |
| Reinhart | 83.3% | 100.0% | 74.7% |
| King Arthur | 100.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Perfect Loaf | 20.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| @matts_miche | 50.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Tartine Book | 50.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Backdoor Bread | 50.0% | 100.0% | 65.0% |
| Richard Bourdon | 20.0% | 100.0% | 65.0% |
| Wild Yeast Blog | 20.0% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| By Total Weight | |||
| Starter | Flour | Water | |
| FSWY | 10.0% | 50.0% | 40.0% |
| Reinhart | 32.3% | 38.8% | 28.9% |
| King Arthur | 33.3% | 33.3% | 33.3% |
| Perfect Loaf | 9.1% | 45.5% | 45.5% |
| @matts_miche | 20.0% | 40.0% | 40.0% |
| Tartine Book | 20.0% | 40.0% | 40.0% |
| Backdoor Bread | 23.3% | 46.5% | 30.2% |
| Richard Bourdon | 10.8% | 54.1% | 35.1% |
| Wild Yeast Blog | 9.1% | 45.5% | 45.5% |
Several feed every 12 hours. Some every 24 hours -- those with really cold kitchens.
I'm missing some great The Fresh Loaf contributors on here.
What I learned is that everyone maintains their sourdough differently and it really depends on your availability and ambient temperature.
Not shown is the flour blend, which also varies greatly.
I hate being chained to a starter:-) I feed it once ever 20-26 weeks and it is lucky to get that:-)
No Muss No Fuss Starter
Your method works for you, but is it actually less work? It seems you build a levain before each bake, a step that isn't necessary with methods that use the starter straight from the fridge into the dough then refresh the starter before returning it to the fridge.
one for me. I want the levain to be at its very peak when it hits the dough most of the time -sometimes after being retarded for a day or two. Starters kept on the counter, especially those using white flour, are the weakly sour sones that produce weakly sour bread - something I am not a fan of baking or eating. The last thing I want to do is be chained to a counter starter every day that makes bread I'm not a fan of.
Thankfully all of us can bake the bread we like to eat and do it in a way that suits our fancy. I used to keep a starter on the cpounter and then in the fridge feeding once a week but no more. My way fits me to a tee, being the lazy retired person I am who bakes a loaf whole, sprouted bread once a week and wants the sour to stand up to the powerful whole grain flavors. Anything else is just too much work with way too much thrown away discards.
The next closest thing would be to do as you say but I was still building a levain to get it up to peak power even after only 1 week in the fridge before adding it to the dough. One too many feedings .....the one before putting it back in the fridge:-) Plus, and most importantly, the starter just couldn't not build up a large enough LAB to yeast ratio after just 1 week in the cold for my liking. It needs to be cold a very, long time to really get sour - weeks and weeks.
I am refreshing a new rye NMNF starter for storage today. The last bake the starter took16 hours for the levain to double and was getting too slow. I did fold in an equal amount of wheat NMNF starter just to see what happens with this oombo starter. The old rye one had to be about 24 weeks stored in the fridge. It was very sour but still made fine bread - the levain build was just too slow.
Happy baking Arjon
but it's not completely accurate to say your method is less work. It can be but isn't necessarily so. And yes, there are reasons to prefer making a levain every time. But there are also trade-offs, which means no way is the universally best fit for all the ways different people bake.
Cheers
nothing universal about it - not one thing - everything is relative and this is what making the bread you want to make and like possible for everyone.
Happy baking
But if one bakes once a week or just occasionally you'll always need a starter feed or a Levain build. Bakers use theirs everyday so feeding everyday is not an issue. I wouldn't like to be slave to my starter only to use it once a week or less. And what if you wish to make a different kind of starter to a different hydration and/or flour? Feeding ones starter and putting it back into the fridge wouldn't mean it's be ready for the next bake. I imagine if you own a bakery or bake the same loaf everytime then there's no issue but for variety a Levain is very helpful.
there are trade-offs, but using starter from the fridge into the dough does work. It's not for everyone depending on how individuals value those trade-offs.
I bake twice a week on average. The day before mixing my dough i take the starter out in the evening and feed it. let it sit out overnight and make my preferment first thing in the morning.
To feed I just dump most of it out and add 50/50 water and AP flour. I weigh the additions but find accurately doubling doesn't matter so just dump most out and save a bit. After I make my preferment in the morning, another feeding then back into the fridge after sitting out for half an hour.