sourdough starter help me please!
salutations everyone.
as you may have guessed i am pretty new to this forum (this being my first post ever) and to baking. i've been on a baking spree this past week, i've been succesfull with pita bread and bagels. anyway, four days ago i decided to be brave and try to grow a sourdough starter.
day one samuel (my starter's name) had some activity after a few hours. kind of looked like pancake batter as it just starts to bubble a bit.
day two samuel had a thin layer of fluid on top. i did some research and it seems like that is natural, so i went ahead and fed him. towards the end of day 2 i had noticed that he had grown and was full of spectacular bubbles. and i fear i may have done something foolish (though i am not sure), i was so excited by the huge increase in activity that i stirred him, which made him shrink back down.
day three i awoke to see him looking like my day one starter... a few bubbles, a little bit of liquid. i fed him like i have been.
day four (today) he has activity, bubbles at the top... but no where near as many bubbles throughout as he had on the end of day two.
so naturally, i am slightly concerned that i may have done something wrong, or perhaps i just need to be patient for him to thrive again.
anyhoo, any advice or suggestions would be very much appreciated.
thanks!