Technical question about starter hydrations
I'm full of questions tonight, but this one has baffled my (mathematically trained) brain...
I keep a starter at 100% hydration.
For the ease of conversation, I'm going to refer to Maggie Glezer's recipe in Artisan Baking - Essential's Columbia.
The evening before baking it says to put together a firm starter, and mix with 63% water and 100% flour. The starter that its referring to in the book appears to be kept at about 30%. (please double check me on this, as I'm still getting used to these hydration #s). So, my technical question is this... to make this recipe, would I need to turn my 100% into a 30% first, then making it a 63% for this recipe? OR, would I just turn my 100% into a 63%, and go from there. What baffles me is that the 30 grams of starter that the recipe assumes I'm starting with is at 30%, versus my 100% should I just start from that point. Granted, 30gms isn't much in relation to the 245gms that the remaining ingredients are, but does that affect the recipe much?
I guess what I'm wondering is, will it take me 1 or 2 days to get to where I can actually start this recipe? Meaning, how many refreshes would/should it take to get the starter where it needs to be in recipes such as this, that refer to a starter that is a different hydration than the one living in my fridge. and as future reference, please let me know if I'm just being retardedly anal about this.. I understand. My husband always emphasizes how LITERAL I am... so I would understand totally if that was the case here.
And lastly, what are general % guidelines for a "stiff" starter versus a "wet" or "liquid" one. Is it like 50% and up is wet and below is stiff? Is it even as simple as that? My head is swimming! and I'm sure yours is too after reading this ridiculous post!
Thank you for help :)
Melissa