Italian Sourdough Starter Culture, Camaldoli Pizza Crust, Bread

Feeding and continual care of your starter begins on day one. Upon receiving, it will not necessarily be bubbling or look 'alive.' Not to worry, they never really ever 'die'. 
Please note: Sourdough starter is a living entity; it needs regular feeding.

When you receive the starter, mix together the same amount of flour and water as you have starter.  For example, if you have roughly 4 oz of sourdough starter when receiving, you will want to get 4 oz water and 4 oz flour. Then mix it all together with the starter. This is how you 'feed the starter,' and will need to be done every day. Keep the 1:1:1 ratio for feeding at all times,  so as your starter grows,  the feeding amount increases. It does not have to be exact measurements but pretty close, and can be done simply by eyeballing if you don't want to get the exact measurements by weight. The consistency should be similar to pancake batter.

Cover with either a towel until the starter begins to rise, then you can switch to a lid. If you are having trouble getting the starter to wake up after a few days, you can try to feeding it a double or triple amount once, that usually does the trick.

Once your starter is bubbling regularly, you have the greenlight to use anytime or switch to keeping it in the refrigerator  Allow to sit of for 4-8 hours after feeding, before using in a recipe or once it has appeared to doubled in volume. Leaving it out on the counter, it will need to be fed equal parts water and flour every 12-24 hours....every day. Storing your sourdough starter in the fridge will require feeding around once a week. It can, however, be stored up to two months in the fridge without being fed if necessary.

If it appears to separate and get a layer of liquid on top, that simply means it is hungry. Warmer homes or frequent baking will require more frequent feeding (around every12 hours), while colder homes every 24 hours. Once the starter is lively, you can discard any amount of the starter each day before feeding,  this will help with keeping it at a manageable amount. Feel free to experiment with different types of flour and recipes, but best to start with all purpose unbleached flour.

PLEASE try to feed your starter immediately upon receiving it. Please try to feed it every 12 hours to start, for the first 2 to 3 days while keeping it at room temperature, to get its strength back from the stressful journey. Then every 24 after that,  as it can take up to 6 days to start being active again. The starter can raise and recede during shipping and may appear as 'not enough.' Not to worry,  only a few grams are necessary to be successful. Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns  -  joe@LivingDough.com