How do I get my new starter ready to bake, have I screwed up?
Hi all,
My 2 starters have been going for a week and are both doing wonderful. In the beginning they were not pleasant smelling and I believe the bad bacteria was causing the "action" I was seeing. Then days 3-5 nothing, just dead, then from day 6 on they have been smelling like fine wine/yeast, it is wonderful, and they both peak after feeding in less than 4 hours. I know they may still not be old enough to depart a wonderful flavor yet on breads but I was thinking I would try one out on pancakes. So that got me thinking and researching how do I turn my 150g starters into enough to bake with and have some left over? I have searched and searched but can't really find an answer that doesn't leave me a little confused. I simply just decided I wanted 2 cups to bake with today so I added a cup of flour and equal part of water by weight to a new bowl. Then I stirred in my whole starter (150g.) and mixed it up and covered it. Then I got a feeling of "uh oh, did I do that right" and am still not sure, so I have a few questions if you experts could let me know:
1. Is there any rule to how much I can increase my starter by (could I have made 100 cups if I wanted instead of just 2)?
2. Will I now have a starter that is just much bigger or is it not as good as what I had before b/c it is diluted?
3. When it rises and falls is it then considered all starter?
4. Have I screwed all my hard work up?
Thanks for any guidance.