No I find it goes stale quite quickly which is why I wondered…
Cheers for the link though I’ll take a butchers
So, first attempt of baking using the starter I started just over a week ago, and pretty chuffed with this! Thanks for all the inspiration and advice here, most useful!
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That looks great for any attempt let alone a first go!
I made a right old hash of one yesterday, it’s tastes ok but it is a little on the dense side!
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Looks great, every reason to be chuffed with that.
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You are an instant expert. It is so much better than my first go.
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Too kind! Thank you though 
Here’s a sourdough tip I read this morning. Untested by me but sounds a good step in quality control.
‘Homemade bread can be very solid, especially sourdough (Russell’s tip: make sure your starter culture is lively enough by dropping a spoonful of it into water before you start; it should float).’
I just watched a video with that tip in!
I think I made the simple mistake of making bread first thing in the morning and got my ratios all wrong…
Must wake up properly first!
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I’m so happy… Sainsbury’s had bread flour this morning so I can revive Sammy, my sourdough starter, from his enforced fridge hibernation!
On the liveliness quotient, I’d be wary of the spoonful size. You only need 1/2 teaspoon’s worth to test it rather than a big lump - although you can, of course, use the water you are testing it in as part of your hydration in the recipe.
Perkiest starter I ever had was when I converted Sammy to Sami (with a heart over the i), a sweet starter, to make panettone but it looked very dense although the panettone themselves were the lightest I’ve ever eaten.
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Just got my starter out of the fridge to try some sourdough muffins
If I had know you didn’t have flour I would have dropped some off for you as I have a sack!
Thanks Nick. I did see your post and thought about asking you but then figured that I couldn’t say it was entirely essential as I had bread in the freezer. Thanks for offering though.
You can save your discard from feeds and use that for crumpets… v fab!
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I’m finally going to try making sourdough, including starter. The starter seems like the easy bit. I am puzzled by the pictures of starter I have seen which use air tight jars. That seems fine for the fridge, but wouldn’t it explode if it’s lively in an airtight jar?
Any recommendations for banneton/basket ?
I keep the starter in the fridge all week and then i get it out Thursday evening and let it get to room temps before feeding it. Then I just leave it over night with the lid slightly ajar as it does it business. The Friday morning I take about 120 g out and put the rest back in the fridge with the lid on. I give the bit I have taken out a bit of a feed. I mix the flour and water and then leave everything for 2-3 hours. The starter is then lively and the bread\water mix has autolysed. Then mix the starter in…
I use of one these but going to get a longer one because while a round loaf is lovely, the slices can be huge in the middle!!
Mine’s in a plastic lock n lock container. Sealed in the fridge, lid on loosely when I’m feeding.
Before I got bannetons, I used a variety of bowls and even an upturned sieve lined with a linen tea towel/muslin sprinkled with flour (rye or rice flour doesn’t seem to stick as much)
If you’ve got an empty 4l milk carton, you could cut it lengthways perhaps?
Thanks for all the suggestions. It’s day three and a lot of bubbles + fruity smell.
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And if you can get hold of a copy of Ray Bradbury’s S is for Space, read the short story Come into my Cellar and be afraid. Be very afraid.
It’s interesting how many methods there are: some starter methods require discarding 50% of the starter every time you feed.
The method of mixing up the final dough seems to have a lot of different methods also. Does anyone mix the starter with water before combining with flour?
I don’t but there are many ways of making a sourdough loaf. I have seen a vid where a guy just mixes the water and starter together, adds the flour and salt and sits back - maybe folds it once or twice, I can’t quite remember. I don’t discard any starter either but I do recall seeing that mentioned when getting the starter going in the first place, I think on the grounds that you would just end up with too much!
Until your starter is actually usable (7 days or so after you start) then it’s sensible to throw half away, otherwise, if you are feeing equal amounts of starter, flour, water then you’ll end up using a lot of flower very rapidly. Once you’re using it, then you just incorporate the feed into the amount you need and you have less waste.
When I’m baking, I do add the water to the starter first and then the flour/salt. That’s just how I found it easiest to incorporate it. That way I know it’s throughout the flour… when i added the flour first, it all seemed to get a lot sticker and clumpier initially. I leave mine alone a lot of the time - just a few stretch and folds rather than lots of kneading.