How Low Can You Go?
I have been maintaining a mini starter using
1.3.3 ratio. 3g starter, 9g water, 9 g. flour. fed twice daily for cooler months.
1.5.5 ratio: 3g starter, 15g water, 15g All Purpose organic flour [King Arthur] fed twice daily for summer heat.

Whenever I want to bake, I scale up to the amount needed for the formula at the AM feeding the day before. The night before my bake day, I either set the levain or re-feed if the formula uses a direct starter.

This extremely small amount produces wonderful bread with excellent rise. I desire more lactic acid flavor so I do use higher temperature for fermentation and bake the same day rather than retarding the loaves with refrigeration.
I bulk ferment and proof my loaves at 85F. I bake the first loaf and since they are all ready at the same time and I only can bake one at a time I put the remaining loaf in the freezer for 30min prior to scoring. This short retard gains a bit more oven spring.
This mini starter brings the amount of discard down but enough to accumulate for a recipe within a few days. I usually discard around 30g. of starter at each feeding.
Thanks for your article-it was a catalyst to help me "go low" with my experimentation. I am a new baker and just baked off loaf #50.
Theresa

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