Help with activating dry starter
I am brand new to sourdough..... well I had a starter years ago but it was given by a friend and I just had to feed it. I ordered a Friends of Carl sourdough starter and followed these instructions beginning last night.Italicized text below is so you can the instructions I followed.The bold text is what I actually did and observed. Get a small container. Begin with one tablespoon of lukewarm water, stir in 1/2 teaspoon of your starter and let stand for a few minutes to soften the start granules. Then mix in one tablespoon of flour. Depending on the flour, you may need to add an additional teaspoon or two of water. You want the mixture to be like a thin pancake batter. When the mixture gets
bubbly, put it in a little larger container.It was bubbly in less than an hour. I could see bubbles rising and popping. So I went to the next stepThen stir in 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of flour. I did this and waited an hour or two, it had some bubbles but not a lot so I let it sit on the counter for about 12 hours (till morning).While it sat I did a lot of reading on this site about sourdough and starters and read that I should use equal amounts of flour and water according to weight not volumeThe next step said When that mix rises up add 1/2 cup of water and 1/2
cup of flour. When this bubbles up, you will have about one cup of very
active starter that is ready for use or storage in your refrigerator.So after about 12 hours (this morning) I added 1/2 cup water (109 grams) (transferred to a wide mouth quart canning jar) and added109 grams of flour but in volume it seemed more like 3/4 cup than 1/2. I marked the jar and left it on the counter. After 2 0r 3 hours it had moved about 1/4 inch in the jar. I read that a vigorous stir could help it so I stirred it and after about 2 more hours it had again rose about 1/4 inch. The surface looks bumpy as though bubbles are trying to push up to the top. I see some bubbles when I look thru the sides.I am just worried about whether It is progressing correctly or not. And worried about whether I should have changed the ratio I was feeding it at. So what should I do now?