Help - I'm confused re differing ratios of flour and water for building starter...does anyone have the definitive starter recipe

Debra Wink knows what she is talking about.  While not "definitive" her starter recipe is thoroughly researched.  Search these pages for blogs she has written on sourdough.  I would attribute more credibility to her than books such as "The Joy of Cooking."  Her pineapple juice method was written to provide a very reliable way to start and maintain a sourdough starter and I know she has used it herself.

Notwithstanding my respect for Debra, there is no "one true way."  People have been created sourdough starters  for centuries and there are many methods - including, frankly, starting with a small sample of a viable starter (the most reliable in my opinion - although many people feel a need to start from scratch.)

I have also been told that starter must be fed every 12 hours - and I believe it - except - I keep mine at cool temperatures and feed it once a day.  It has been lively and viable for over 10 years.

People keep successful starters at all kinds of hydrations and feeding routines. In the end, it is a craft and you must learn to "read" your starter and respond to its needs.  This will be good practice for learning to "read" your bread dough and respond to its needs.

Unlike making most pastries, dealing with bread is dealing with living beings (yeast, bacteria) and has a great deal more variability.  There are many documented methods for everything, but in the end, you will find which works best with your hands and your environment.

Hope this helps.

I agree with "proth5", Debra Wink's method is: great: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10856/pineapple-juice-solution-part-1 http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10901/pineapple-juice-solution-part-2

Once I have my starter going, I store it in the refrigerator and start refreshing the day before I use it.  I can keep it for a month or more with out refreshing.

Ford

I have two starters that I created from PR's instructions in WGB - also the Debra Wink pinapple juice method. They are now about 3 years old.

I keep them in the fridge and only feed them before I bake with them or every 3 weeks, whichever is sooner. They are fine and work very well - I get lovely bread.

what i do works everytime and is simple:

take a half glass full of KA all purpose flour or their bread flour and fill the rest of the glass with water. mix with spoon. stir occasionally over a 12 hour period. 

then, dump half out and fill the glass with half flour half water by volume. mix with spoon. stir occasionally over a 12 hour period.

do this for about 4 days. around the 4th day you'll start to see bubbles. when you start to see bubbles on bubbles (like 2 rows), you are on your way -- feed according to whatever flour to water ratio you want. the first feedings are important though and you must wait until you see a decent amount of activity before you feed again....

if you try it, please let me know if it works for you!

I've started about 3-4 starters this way. It uses very little volume-just tablespoons of flour/water.

1 tbsp AP flour( or any flour you want to use-AP was cheap and available)-enough water to make a pancake batter consistency.Cover with a cheesecloth or paper towel and rubberband so critters (fruit flies) don't get at it-(they love the stuff.)

Stir vigorously several times a day just to incorporate air and move things around-this is in a small jar-4 oz or 8 oz.,preferably with a cover for later use.

For the next few days,every day,remove a spoonful of paste,throw it away and add a tablespoon of flour and some water to make the batter consistency. After anywhere from 2-6 days, you should notice some small,fine bubbles forming-not much.

The bubbling will increase, once it starts. Now the fun can begin.

You should start to notice some rising about an hour or so after a feeding. Keep going with the same routine but remember these are now hungry beasties growing.If you notice some liquid (hootch) forming on the surface, that means they are starving so you need to add a feeding and continue.So now you are doing 2 or even several feedings during the day,depending on how hungry they are and how warm the air. Keep the volume down-it should still be just a small amount.

Now there may be an acetone or vinegry smell and it will taste acidic.But the yeasts/lactobacilli are still not in sync and you will notice perhaps some wild risings after a feeding.This is not a yeast rising and won't raise bread.Keep going with pretty much the same routine. You now have a culture where the lacto is supreme and the yeast population is growing.You should still have a small volume. Keep up the feedings until you notice that the risings are less wild and more sedate.The smell may be more yeasty,also.Now you can use it for bread. Finally,feed it,wait an hour and put it into the fridge to be ready for a bake.When you take some for a bake,feed the original,wait an hour and put back in the refrig.Either feed once a week or bake once a week,minimum. If you aren't baking,take some of the starter out of the jar before feeding.

For a baking session:The day before a bake (24 hours)-in the morning:put several tablespoons of your starter into a larger container(I use a 4 c measuring cup covered in plastic),feed it a little more flour than usual in 2-3 feedings every 4-6 hours so that you can build it to the volume you need for a baking session.DON'T remove anything with these feedings!You are building volume.It will probably be ready by the next morning.It is ready when it will double in volume in 1-2 hours.Room temp affects this.  (By the way,the original starter jar gets fed and put back in the fridge.) The first 3-4 bakes are generally not the greatest but the starter improves with age. Patience.

When I started a starter, I brought the starter ingredients to work with me and kept it going until it was ready. I work in a somewhat moldy basement and I don't know if that had anything to do with my success but it worked everytime. The problem I've found with most of the processes I've read is that they are either too fussy and anxiety provoking or involve way to big a volume (cups and cups of flour wasted). Whatever method you use, start with small amounts. It is a culture and you can always grow it to whatever size you want without wasting too much.

Have fun. So simple and so complicated but always delicious.