Hi there, discard can also become important if the ratio of starter/flour/water shifts each time you build the starter. It's important to try to keep a balanced environment, and if your building routine doesn't maintain a fairly consistent ratio of ingredients this can cause issues. In particular, you don't want the amount of sourdough starter to far outweigh the amount of fresh flour and water added during a feeding. If you're feeding a large quantity of sourdough starter with a relatively small amount of flour and water, the starter will become dominated by sourdough waste products and isn't as likely to thrive. Barb

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