sourdough newbie and king arthur
Hi, all
Newbie to both the site and sourdough, although not entirely to bread. I received a King Arthur's flour sourdough starter for Christmas. It said 'feed within 24 hours', and I was excited, so I started it.
I realize there might be opposition to king arthur's starter, but it's what I have to work with at the moment. If I can make IT work maybe I will try wild yeast.
Anyways, I was excited, so I did the first feeding, which then said wait 8-12 hours. I went to bed and woke up to bubbly starter...and instructions to discard half, add in 1/2 cup water/1 cup flour, and then repeat in 2-4 hours. Only....I had to go to work, and I wasn't wanting to tote the starter along with me.
I called the help line, and the woman said to put it in the fridge. Take it out tonight and follow the next step, then let it sit at room temperature over night. I read ahead and all of the next steps are within 2-4 hours, 2 more times total. I work tomorrow too, but then do have Saturday off.
My question is, how would you recommend pulling this off, getting it going? Also, if I am constantly discarding half and then adding in 1/2 cup water/1 cup flour, won't it keep getting thicker and thicker? It's already very thick and somewhat drier than the pictures. And finally, their instructions end with 'refrigerate till ready to use in a recipe' but don't you have to keep feeding it periodically?
I'm happy to have starter, but I'm wondering if I should diverge from the instructions. any tips? I'm sure I sound like an idiot above.