Sourdough starter help!

[Trufflepuffpuff]

I've been given a sourdough starter and I'm getting really confused about how to maintain/feed it. I've seen lots of recipes online for making one from scratch, but this is an established one. Can anyone provide me with some simple instructions?! Some tips of what to do with it (bake obviously) would be fab too. Thanks.

[YinuCeatleAyru]

with your established working starter:

each time you have finished with it, put 100g in an airtight pot in the fridge to go to sleep, and use the rest.

the start of each use is to get that pot out of the fridge about 36 hours (more or less depending on the temperature of where you are using to let it rise) and let it warm up a bit. feed it with equal quantities of flour and water to make it up to the quantity you need plus 100g, mix it all up and leave it to rise.

when it is ready to go put 100g into a pot and into the fridge and carry on and bake with the rest.

if you accidentally let it get away with you and you have far too much starter, take the leftover and mix it with just enough flour to make a workable dough that isn't too sticky (and optionally some herbs or black pepper) and a bit of salt, let it rise a bit then roll it out into thin thin strips and bake them at 190C to make sourdough crackers for eating with cheese. you can never have too many as they are too delicious to keep.

[Trufflepuffpuff]

Thanks! So do I only feed it when I'm planning to use it? Do I need to use it regularly to keep it going? Sorry for the silly questions but I'm a bit confused and I've never had one before.

[Blondie1984]

Go on YouTube and watch Bake with Jack videos OR have a look at this foodbodsourdough.com/

[YinuCeatleAyru]

its certainly fine in the fridge for at least a few weeks without being fed at all. I don't know what the upper limit is.

[mstrotwood]

I'm fairly new to this, but I keep mine in the fridge, take it out the evening before I bake (once a week), feed it and leave it out overnight.

I mix most of the starter in the bread dough in the morning and feed the rest of the starter again, leave it out during the day / until it has a lot of activity and put it back in the fridge.

Look up 'Elly's Everyday' on Youtube, she has the most simple explanation on how to do it that I have seen. Her recipe for 'Easy Everyday Sourdough Bread' works really well.

[Pigeonfaces]

I keep mine in the fridge too, in a Tupperware box with the lid balanced on top, get it out a day or so before baking, and give it a feed. Then use it when it’s lively & full of bubbles. It’s so much easier than keeping it at room temperature.

On a different point, I read somewhere (here?) that you can feed a starter on ground lentils. So I fed my well-established (white flour) starter on gram flour before a bake. It almost killed it! I had to spend days nursing it back to health feeding it little spoons of white flour.

But I like the idea of getting pulses into it- has anyone succeeded in this?