Using sourdough starter in a bread machine..?

[CSLewis]

Has anyone got a foolproof method of incorporating some sourdough starter (or even an overnight sponge) into breadmaker bread..?

And my other question is about feeding the starter once it's established. It seems very expensive to feed it a cupful of flour every day! If I was to bake every other day, can I just replace the cup of starter that I bake with, with another cup of flour and one of water.? Would that work?!?

TIA.

I don't know about using sourdough in a bread machine. Sourdough is really a slow method of yeasting, and I would guess that the timing on a bread machine (if using a full programme) would be too quick for it, although I am sure someone else will be along later to explain how it can be done. If you are just looking for the machine to mix the starter in to the other flour and water, and knead, why don't you use a mixer with a dough hook?

The cost of flour is really quite low, even after the recent hikes in the world price for wheat. Anyway, you only discard a small part of the starter when building it up. Once you have it going, you don't throw any away as you use half, and top-up with fresh flour in readiness for your next loaf.

Thank you for answering I suppose I could experiment with using the starter to make an overnight sponge with half the flour, and then make up the whole amount and chuck it in the breadmaker for the actual cooking...possibly...

I've obviously misunderstood somewhere along the way about constantly having to discard half the starter and add more... If I'm using the discard rather than throwing it away, I'll feel much better about it! Hopefully I'll manage to get stuck in once the holidays arrive

I feed my starter every week and bake every week. Was told every 7 - 10 days. Have graduated to using half and keeping half, but was initially advised to use 1/3 and keep the rest, discarding as (or if) it becomes too full. So there is obviously a huge amount of variability in the mix!

I used a sourdough starter for the french' cycle (the longest one) it was quite succesful but not like a 'real' sourdough loaf.