I’ve been making sourdough breads for about 6 years now and I have learned over the years that my starter needs much less attention than most SD bakers would think. I just took about a one month break from baking and did not feed my starter once. Two days prior to my most recent bake, I did two small feedings (1oz water and 1 oz of water). I start the process Thursday morning leaving the starter on my room temperature counter and then put it back in the refrigerator at night. Friday morning, I discard all but about 2 tablespoons of starter (I always “eyeball” that amount) and do another feeding of 1 oz of water and 1 oz of flour and then leave it on my counter at room temperature during the rest of the day. By Friday night, I have a very robust starter to make my levain for the Saturday morning bake. The rise on my loaves has always been really good. My point here is, smaller starters for home bakers with lengthy intervals between baking is just fine. Regular feeding of your starter between bakes is good insurance for a strong culture but completely unnecessary.

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