Hi Harry, we have a wonderful blog written by Barb Alpern which talks about creating and using a stiff starter. You can find her blog, Artisan Sourdough Bread Tips, Part 1, here. Most of our sourdough recipes and instructions for creating a sourdough starter actually use a liquid starter which is in the range of 1:1 to 1:1.25 ratio by weight of flour to water. A stiff starter has twice as much flour as water by weight, or a hydration percentage of 50% or expressed as a ratio of 1:0.5. It is important that you are using a scale to weigh your flour and water. Using volumetric measurements when creating and using sourdough starters can easily lead to confusion. Happy baking! 

• Reply