Confused noob

A starter is pre-fermented flour that's always kept behind to keep the process ongoing. It can be any hydration. There are no rules. 

The rest depends on how you maintain and use your starter. Confusion arises because it's all the same thing, pre-fermented flour, but the terminology changes depending on what steps are taken. 

Starter - Doesn't make it into the final dough unless you keep a bit of dough behind (old dough style) as starter for next time. Non specific and simply a way of storing the yeasts and bacteria. 

Levain - This goes into the final dough. Specific. Geared towards the recipe. 

So here is where it overlaps a little. Some people keep their starter completely separate. They'll take some off to build a levain but always keep some starter behind. Totally separate. 

However, you can feed your starter enough to take some off to use in the recipe with some spare to keep as starter for next time. This is like a starter maintenance and levain in one. What you keep behind is starter for next time. What goes into the final dough is the levain - it leavens the dough. But because it's used this way starter and levain become interchangeable and whatever goes into the dough can be called either. 

Generally, unless you're using a small percentage of starter in the final dough for a long ferment, you'll feed your starter or build a levain using a small amount of starter with a higher percentage of water and flour to be used when peaked (as a rule of thumb). Reason being is using a lot of unfed starter will produce poorer results and inferior flavour. If it has been a long time between feeds the more the gluten is degraded and the higher the acidity. So if using a high percentage of starter then it needs a good feed before using be it feeding your starter or taking some off to build a levain. 

One could write a book on this and no doubt i've not included everything in my reply. But that is a snippet of what is going on. The rest you'll learn by maintaining and using your starter. 

It's only confusing if you believe there is one right answer and then give up before you properly follow-through with one option. This is the mental trap in just about everything in life. There are almost always multiple ways of doing things, and those ways appeal to people based on their personal environments, flour sources, tastes, etc.

Choose one approach and stick with it. If it's not performing as well as you like (after using it for a few months maybe) then investigate options to tweak it.

One simple solution is as follows:

- after your starter has been built (yeast driven growth after a week or more, not the bacteria growth early in starter building that fools people and then dies off as yeast grow and change the acidity of the starter)

- 100% hydration always, but don't freak out if you're sloppy

- Keep starter in the fridge. Feed it once per week. Use yeasty whole grains, dark rye, etc. 

- When you want to do a bake, take out some starter and put it in a different container. Feed it at 100% hydration to build a levain (which just means the amount of starter to be used up in one bake)

- adjust temperature to grrow the levain at the desired rate (ie. put in fridge, leave on countertop, put in a warm place < 40C etc. to grow it as fast as you will need it)

Numbers will relate to order of the questions 

1. Don't have to
2. See 1
3. I personally don't do offshoots ie preferments, but you can do as you've stated, amongst a myriad of other practices.
4. See 1 

As I'm sure this does nothing to clear up any confusion (and there will be a lot more - the more ya look the more you'll find - that's just how it works) I'll say this. Pick a path, 1, and follow it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, move on. Eventually you'll get it. Enjoy!

Hi Reese, 

congrats with your new rye starter! May you enjoy it for a long time. Starters are wonderful!

- If your starter is 100% hydration should you feed it and keep it at 100% ? 

- I would but you don't have to. I would continue feeding it and keeping it at 100% hydration, because hydration influences microbial composition and if I want to keep my starter stable, not change its aroma and taste, I would keep its hydration the same. Some starters change if you switch from soft 100%hydration to firm dough (50%hydration) or from soft to very liquid dough, some don't. If I like my starter, I won't change anything.

- When you’re ready to bake should you use starter at 100% hydration? 

- It depends. You can either use it at 100%hydration or prepare a portion of stiff or liquid starter as in the recipe that you are using. Some recipes require liquid starer, some - stiff, some recipes require 100% hydration starter. It is up to you to test the recipe and see if you want to prepare a portion of starter with hydration as in the recipe or keep using your own as is, at 100%.

It all depends on what you value more: your own convenience or the recipe requirements. Both ways you will have a good outcome but which one is better? ...only your experience will tell.

- Do you keep your “mother” starter at 100% then feed the offspring at a lesser percent so that you have both the “mother” and the offspring in separate containers?

- No. I do not keep a continuously propagated mother culture in one pot and a number of its offsprings fed with different flours or with different amounts of water in them in several other pots. To me a starter is a starter, one and only. I use the same jar over and over for the same culture kept at the same hydration level.

Again, I don't but you do not have to. You could feed your mother starter in its pot at 100% hydratin and prepare a portion of stiff starter for the recipe in another jar, just this once. No problem.

- How do you feed the night before you plan to bake? 

- According to the recipe for my starter. My starter was created using a certain recipe, a certain prescribed routine for its feeding. This recipe tells me how to feed my starter. I just follow the recipe and feed it accordingly. 

Just because your starter and mine are both 100% hydration rye does not mean that we used the same recipe for creating them. You stick to your schedule and proportions of feeding your starter, I stick to mine. 

Best wishes,

m.

Doc.Dough did a cool flow-chart and narrative at:

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/68585/methods-and-rationale-sourdough-starter-maintenance-and-elaboration

It might help -- or it might confuse you more. Here's hoping it helps.

Hello, Reese!

Welcome to the wonderful world of sourdough baking!  

By now I’m sure you’ve noticed that sourdough baking is a rich and complex subject, filled with a countless number of possibilities, an infinite number of contradictions, and an endless number of opinions on the “best way” to do things.  The crazy part is that all of these contradictory opinions are correct, to some degree.  The simple truth is that everyone’s experience with sourdough is different, since everyone’s environment is different, as are everyone’s tastes and preferences.  Ultimately, there are no right or wrong answers, as long as you A) are enjoying the experience, and B) are happy with your results (and let’s face it…. even the “failures” in sourdough baking are typically at least edible, and more often than not quite tasty!)

You mention that you’ve only just recently begun.  Might I ask how old your starter is, and what type of flour (along with what ratio and how often) are you feeding it?

As for your questions:

1). I think that many bakers use 100% hydration in their starters because that’s what most recipes (at least that I’ve seen) call for.  Also, it makes for easier measuring, and easier math if you find a recipe that calls for a different hydration.  It’s certainly not a requirement to keep your starter at 100% hydration.  Keep in mind that the hydration of the starter will affect how quickly (or slowly) the microorganisms in the starter take to consume their food source, which can affect the balance between the wee yeasty beasties and the different types of acid-producing bacteria.  By experimenting with the hydration, you can control how long it takes between feedings, as well as changing the flavor profile of your baked goods.  However, these things can also be achieved by varying the ratio of starter:flour:water you use for a feeding.

2).  I find it helpful to not think of your starter in terms of “mother” and “offsprings”.  Instead, your starter is just your starter.  It is a living, breathing organism that is always growing and evolving.  When its microorganisms have consumed all of their available food source, you will remove some starter and feed the rest, thereby refreshing the starter and allowing it to continue on.  The portion that you remove is “discard”, which can be saved in the fridge for use in recipes that use discard (mmmm… buttermilk sourdough waffles!) or actually discarded.  Sometimes the “discard” portion is what you will add a few ingredients to in order to make a levain.  A levain is what is known as a pre-fermentation, and is always specified in the recipe whether it’s needed, how to mix it, and how long it must age prior to using it in a recipe.  Think of levain as a half-way step between whatever your starter is made of and whatever your recipe needs it to be made of.  The levain step gives the microorganisms a head start on being ready for a different food source.  The portion of your starter that you have fed just goes on being your starter, ready to face another day, eating up sugars/starches, reproducing, and creating carbon dioxide.  
3). How you feed the night before really kind of depends on what the recipe calls for, and how active your starter is.  If you feed the same amount each day, at the same time each day, it won’t be long before you start seeing a pattern in the way your starter rises and falls.  You will get the best results in your baking if you have a good general idea of how long this cycle takes, because some recipes call for starter that is just past its peak, some call for starters that haven’t peaked yet, some call for starters that have exhausted their food supply and completely  fallen.  As I mentioned before, the timing of this rise/fall cycle can be tweaked by changing the hydration or the ratio of the feeding.  How and when to feed the night prior to a bake depends on the needs of the recipe and your starter’s cycle.

Now that I’ve made all of that about as clear as a brick, let me add a few more tidbits that might also help, in no particular order:

1)  Keep your starter small.  You’ll get exactly the same results from a starter that weighs 20 grams as you would from one that weighs a half pound.  Smaller starter = less discard = less expense.  And you can always scale it up in the day or three leading up to the bake to get the amount of starter that the recipe calls for (making sure to always have enough left over to carry over to refresh your starter).

2).  Pick a recipe that looks like something you will like, and make that one recipe repeatedly.  Don’t branch out to other recipes until you have mastered the first one.  Paying close attention to what turned out good and what turned out not-so-good, and making small tweaks each time you make it will teach you more about what does and doesn’t work than anything else will.  

3). Never hesitate to ask for advice.  Yes, you will probably get advice that conflicts, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that any of it is incorrect.  Almost always there will at least be some kernel of helpful knowledge in every reply.

4). If you don’t have one already, a good quality digital kitchen scale is a must.

I’m sure that there’s plenty I haven’t remembered, it’s been a good while since I’ve been here myself.  I hope that this has been useful to you on your sourdough journey.  

Happy Baking!