Feeding sourdough starter as you bake

[NewBakerMatt]

Hello! New here, looking forward to getting to know everyone and learn from you! I've done a lot of reading up on sourdough starter but haven't found anything that tells me what to put back into the starter.

So I use some starter to make my levain. Then I'll be mixing the levain into my other ingredients to make my final dough. My question is do I take a small portion of the levain to put back into my "mother" starter prior to mixing the levain into my final dough? How much, assuming my starter is 100g? I've heard of some of the new dough always going back into the starter, but haven't read whether it's the levain or final dough (which would contain some salt and other ingredients I don't imagine you would want carried over into whatever else you'll be baking with it)

Any clarification on this would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Theron Hall]

I think you simply feed your starter flour and water 1:1. Take some away to start a batch of dough.
I think its that simple.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Hello! New here, looking forward to getting to know everyone and learn from you! I've done a lot of reading up on sourdough starter but haven't found anything that tells me what to put back into the starter.

So I use some starter to make my levain. Then I'll be mixing the levain into my other ingredients to make my final dough. My question is do I take a small portion of the levain to put back into my "mother" starter prior to mixing the levain into my final dough? How much, assuming my starter is 100g? I've heard of some of the new dough always going back into the starter, but haven't read whether it's the levain or final dough (which would contain some salt and other ingredients I don't imagine you would want carried over into whatever else you'll be baking with it)

Any clarification on this would be appreciated! Thanks!

No. Just maintain feeding your starter as you have been.

In the beginning it's good to maintain a schedule that includes regular feeding times and regular amounts of flour and type(s) of flour.

But eventually your starter is going to become very acidic. It's going to produce an extremely sour bread. At that point you'll I have to start experimenting with ways to maintain your starter to create the acid levels you desire.

While there's general instructions in creating a starter and maintaining it, the conditions specific to your kitchen and the types of flours used have to be taken into consideration if you want to bake better bread.

The link below is to a blog post that discusses the characteristics of a starter and understanding those characteristics.

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-starter-maintenance-routine/