I went through multiple articles and couldn't quite get an answer to this - for the starter used to create a levain (and not to be used as a levain), do you use a "hungry" or peaked starter? I would assume the former, but would love to get some more insight!
It hardly matters, as a hungry starter will quickly make up for lost time once it has some food. It depends a little on how much you are multiplying by. Hungry and straight out of the fridge, for example, I would hesitate to go more than three times, but for a second build, you can usually go to five times.
This Danish guy named Sune (foodgeek) on youtube has done lots of SD experiments, and many of them in the last several weeks, so these are fresh facts and opinions. In one of the latest ones, he baked bread using sourdough from the fridge to make levain, without feeding and/or peaking it. And it worked, albeit with adjustments to time. So I guess everything works provided you watch the dough, and not the clock.
...sourdough levain (a few days ago) with a 3 week old starter, I fed my refrigerated starter at 3 a.m. and then put in back in the fridge after it close to tripled within 3 hours. At 9 pm I took what I needed to build the levain (12g starter, 116g flour (half white wheat/half all purpose), 116g water) and it was ready to use in 12 hours time, just as described in the recipe I was using. So at 9 p.m. it wasn't exactly hungry, but it wasn't peaked either. I wasn't exactly sure how to go about the process, but that is the way I did it and it worked for me.
This Danish guy named Sune (foodgeek) on youtube has done lots of SD experiments, and many of them in the last several weeks, so these are fresh facts and opinions. In one of the latest ones, he baked bread using sourdough from the fridge to make levain, without feeding and/or peaking it. And it worked, albeit with adjustments to time. So I guess everything works provided you watch the dough, and not the clock.
Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJGMdXLn3fc
I especially like his timelapse experiments.
...sourdough levain (a few days ago) with a 3 week old starter, I fed my refrigerated starter at 3 a.m. and then put in back in the fridge after it close to tripled within 3 hours. At 9 pm I took what I needed to build the levain (12g starter, 116g flour (half white wheat/half all purpose), 116g water) and it was ready to use in 12 hours time, just as described in the recipe I was using. So at 9 p.m. it wasn't exactly hungry, but it wasn't peaked either. I wasn't exactly sure how to go about the process, but that is the way I did it and it worked for me.