ways to save money
Hey there.
I've made sourdough a couple times and love everything about it. But I've had to give up on my starter because it's too expensive for me to manage at the moment. I've got it at room temperature and feed it every day (I'm following Joshua Weissman's recipe), but the four different flours I buy for it as recommended (unbleached) each cost $4 a kilo in Melbourne, and the starter keeps eating through it. It costs me $10 a week just to keep the starter alive, and an extra $4 for bread flour any time I want to bake (That makes 2 loaves).
Are there ways to keep my starter healthy with out having to feed it so often, or ways to cut down the costs? I understand you can refrigerate it and only have to feed it once a week, but I'm not sure what that does to the quality of the bread.
I know that doesn't sound like a lot of money, but we already only buy sustainable and seasonal produce, so every little counts.
Thanks for the help!