Why "discard"???

If you keep feeding your starter with an appropriate amount of flour and water without discarding some (or using some for making bread), in a few weeks you will have an enormous amount of starter wich you wouldn't be able to continue feeding (the cost of flour will be huge), and anyway there isn't realy a reason to do it.

To feed your starter properly you need to at least double the starter every feeding.  The feeding should be done every 8 to 12 hours.  Look at your picture, the next time you feed it the starter will need to be twice that size.  You can see that in no time if you don't discard the starter will be much larger than you need.  People have already suggested a few recipes that you can use the discards for and that is a good option.  You just need a small amount of starter to be saved after an 8 to 12 hour feeding and feed it again.  This will keep the starter a reasonable size and you will not be going through huge amounts of flour.  When you get the starter where it will make bread you can store it in a fridge so you only have to feed it about once a week.

Your starter looks great! I am a newbie here and I have tried to make my own TWICE! with no success I went back to regular yeast.

Sorry I don't have any advice for your question, I just saw the pictures and thought you are in the right track, keep up the good work and good luck!!!

Hi! Qué tal? your sourdough starter looks quite healty, according to the pictures...rather than discarding some part of it, I would use it for other recipes (pancakes or muffins  for istance) and in a few week i suggest that you dehidrate a part of it for any urgency of "panic situation" (let's say that you or someone else throws to the bin for mistake, not pretty good, don't you think) in the web of Iban, tequedasacenar.com you can find how to dehidrate and even rehidrate your masa madre...Happy baking from Quito and  by the way, we're all waiting for some pics of your first sourdough loaf. Hasta pronto Paolo

I never throw it out.  I save the extra to make some small treats for my husband and son. 

I have just started a new starter a few days ago, using kefir whey and unbleached flour.  It looks pretty good but not quite ready for bread making.   I have been saving the discards and today I made something out of it.  I made peanut butter banana pancakes this morning for breakfast.  When I fed my starter again this afternoon, I only had to take out 1/4 cup of discard and I used it to make chocolate chip walnut pancakes as a sweet treat for the two boys.  They loved it.

Is your starter rye or whole wheat?  It looks nice and active.  I can almost smell some fresh bread coming out from it.  :-)

Al

Carlos, I wonder if your starter went flat as a result from being fed with bread flour.  I can't say for sure.  But I definitely wouldn't feed my starter with bread flour.  If you want to maintain an active starter, use rye, whole wheat, even AP flour.  I have a whole wheat starter that works very well for me.  Just last week, I decided to make a second starter using unbleached flour.  But that's where I draw the line.  I could be wrong, I believe the more processed the flour is the less food it has left in the flour for the starter to grow. 

I used half of my unbleached starter to make four 8" pancakes this morning.  Since I had added kefir whey into the starter last night, it looked more like a sponge this morning.  Used the straight sponge, a bit of oil, pinch of salt, some sugar, beat an egg into it.  Once everything was nice and smooth, I added 1/3 tsp of baking soda.  I never get tired of watching the starter sponge rise in front of my eyes once baking soda is added into it.  Always fascinates me.  Once the batter looked bubbly and puffy, I mashed 1/2 of a large, ripe, banana and stir into the batter.  Cook in frying pan on med-low heat until light brown and fluffy.  Don't use too high heat because your pancakes will burn on the outside yet mushy inside.  Lower heat setting will allow the pancakes to cook slowly and evenly.  I sprinkled some chopped walnuts on top of the uncooked side before flipping it over to finish cooking.  Spread peanut butter over pancakes while still hot.  It's delicious!

If you can't find all natural peanut butter or it's too expensive, you can make your own.  Get some roasted, shelled, peanuts from the store.  (You can also use unshelled peanuts if it's cheaper to buy.  Just shell then roast them in the oven or toast them in a frying pan until lightly brown.  Make sure you stir them frequently so not to burn them.)  Put the nuts in a food processor or a chopper (with an "s" blade, not a cross blade), pulsate them with a bit of peanut oil or canola oil, until the right consistency.  Add a bit of salt if you like but I like mine plain.  I also like to leave a bit chunks in my freshly ground peanut butter for better crunch.  If you like it smooth, simply process it until smooth.  It's really easy and delicious!

Al

You make me jealous! And those pancakes sure look delicious, I'm going to read the whole thread again and start my own really soon and HOPEFULLY i get the same result.