I successfully created my own starter from scratch using the KAF instructions. I'm glad I read the notes that accompany the instructions, since it took just about two weeks for mine to finally achieve serious bubbling and doubling. I'm now maintaining it in the fridge, I've baked with it once (successfully), and am getting ready to bake again. I have four very basic questions, two about the number and size of containers and two about getting ready for baking with a refrigerator-maintained starter. Container Question 1: When I take my starter out of the fridge for weekly feeding, I'm supposed to discard all but 4 oz. What's the best way to do this? I can think of three options but it's not clear to me which if any makes the most sense. (a) Two-container system: Put a clean, empty container on the scale, add 4 oz. of starter from the container that was in the fridge, feed, let sit a few hours, and then refrigerate. This method would mean alternating between two containers. (b) One-container system, version 1: Put a clean, empty container on the scale, add 4 oz. of starter from the container that was in the fridge, discard the remainder, return the weighed-out 4 oz. of starter to the original container, then feed and refrigerate. (c) One-container system, version 2: Determine the tare weight of my container (we'll call it X), put it on the scale and start removing starter until it weighs X+4 oz., then feed and refrigerate. What do people typically do? Container Question 2: Assuming I'm doing the method of discarding all but 4 oz. and then feeding with 4 oz. each of water and flour, what is the ideal size container for storing my starter? A pint jar would hold all 12 oz. but wouldn't allow much expansion. Would a quart jar be the right size? Or would that be too small or too big? What's ideal? Baking Question 1: Your starter-maintenance instructions say that when getting ready to bake, "If your starter has been refrigerated, you’ll want to both increase its volume, and raise its activity to a more energetic level. You can do this by giving it a couple of feedings at room temperature." Is this business of increasing volume and activity supposed to happen in the same container in which I store the starter in the fridge? Baking Question 2: When I give my refrigerated starter "a couple of feedings at room temperature" to "both increase its volume, and raise its activity level," is the idea that I discard all but 4 oz., feed that, and then when I'm all done with baking I'll have at least 4 oz. left to feed and return to the fridge? Wouldn't it make more sense to go through the regular feed-and-return-to-fridge ritual with 4 oz. of it, and do my feeding and preparing for baking with the roughly 8 oz. that I would otherwise discard? Or am I missing the point somewhere?

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