I received a SD starter from a friend recently and have made 3 successful loaves. I have been feeding the starter at 10pm each day, and using the discard to make a River Cottage recipe. According to the recipe, you use the starter to make a sponge - leave to rise (I do 10pm to 7am) and then knead the full volume of ingredients together. I am then leaving that to rise till 3pm, then baking at about 6pm - and eating at about 7.30pm - or an overnight cool. (This schedule is super convenient.) I believe it's working without special feeding of the starter beforehand because of the sponge stage - would that be right? My question is - what do I do for recipes that don't have a sponge stage? How exactly do I get some starter ready for use in such a recipe? I've seen you say - feed it 12-hourly before using? Does that mean you throw away some discard? (Like other commenters, I'm not keen on throwing away "good food"!) Thanks for your excellent SD mentoring service!

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