How do I feed my starter?

I get a lot of questions about how I feed Arnold. Some people treat it like an exact science. I don’t. Which is ironic given I’m a perfectionist/engineer. Not everything in life can be an exact science. This is where I get balance.

I’ve read a lot about discarding half and feeding with equal parts water and flour by weight. I kind of do that. The main difference being that I use the term “discard” and "half" loosely.

I’ll always feed Arnold equal weights of water and flour so his hydration stays consistent at 100% (and to reduce unnecessary cognitive overhead). But I’ll frequently feed him without removing any existing starter.

And I never straight up throw anything away. I always bake it in to something else. Food waste isn’t my thing. (Maybe it’s because I’m an environmental engineer. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a family that said every rice left in the bowl was a pimple on your face. But I digress.)

Here’s my schedule-ish:

Thursday, Friday, or Saturday

1. Assess how much Arnold I have.
• I usually try to maintain Arnold at 2-8oz. Based on how much starter I currently have, I'll choose a recipe where I'll end up in that comfortable range, once I remove what I need to for my recipe.
2. Choose a recipe (either using discard or requiring peak starter). Based on that, feed Arnold. For example:
• If I want to make a discard-based recipe, I'll remove what I need, prep, bake, and sometime in there feed non-recipe Arnold.
• If I want to make a peak-starter-based recipe, I'll feed first then remove what I need once Arnold has peaked.
• Note: The exact amount I feed varies (but is always equal parts water & flour by weight). Generally I'll feed him 1-2oz of water & flour each week.
3. Fridge Arnold after he's peaked & fallen. Timing here is based on starter type used in my recipe for the week. For example:
• If I am doing a discard-based recipe, I likely just fed Arnold. So I'll leave him for ~12-18 hrs on the kitchen counter before sticking him in the fridge.
• If I am doing a peak-starter-based recipe, I'll stick him in the fridge soon (~immediately-1hr) after removing what I'm using for my recipe.

That's it! Not an exact science 🤷. Hope it's helpful.