Sourdough Starter, Week Two

The starter finally doubled reliably today, which took longer than every recipe promised it would. A few things that seemed to actually matter, as opposed to the things every guide insists matter:

• Room temperature swings were the real variable, not flour type.
• Feeding it at the same time each day mattered more than the exact ratio, at least at this stage.
• Discarding most of it before each feed felt wasteful right up until it didn’t — a smaller, well-fed culture rises faster than a large, undernourished one.

Next milestone is an actual loaf instead of pancakes made from discard.