We went to a concert last night (Beck, Cage the Elephant and Spoon), and I forgot to feed the starter before we went and after we came home, so it's been just shy of 24 hours since the last feeding. Now that I have gotten the right consistency for the starter, it would peek after 6-8 hours at room temperature.
I fed it this morning and I see some action going on, but it's been three hours and there hasn't been enough action to grow yet. I think it's probably best to delay the bak until this gets vigorous again, right?
Ah, life!
Delay till your starter is bouncing back up and down again. It's odd that it fell flat, however, as common wisdom is that starters can go a day without a feeding and still remain vigorous. Then again, each starter is different. Some can come right out of the refrigerator after a week retardation and get right to work. Others, like mine, need a couple of feedings before they come back to life and are ready to make bread.
Whatever your starter needs to be the best starter it can be, that you do. If I've learned anything so far in my short, sourdough-making journey it's that.
As a new to sourdough baker I would also delay the bake until the starter is ready. You could put it in a nice warm place around 80ºF and get it to speed up a bit.
Thanks you two. I delayed. After one full day, it bounced back vigorously.
It's pretty hard to really hurt a starter. When it goes a little off a little tlc and it'll come back without issue. I had one in the fridge for close to 2 years, never touched it, and it came back no problem - well after about a week or so of feeding and keeping it warm it did. They are surprisingly resilient.