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How the starter feeding calculator works
The logistics of a living ingredient
Starter math is supply-chain math: your recipe needs X grams at peak, your jar feeds at a ratio, and the calendar between now and baking decides the schedule. A 1:5:5 maintenance feed (starter:flour:water) grows 11× in one cycle — a 20 g base becomes 220 g, covering most home recipes with one feed.
Reading the plan
- Small base, big feeds: keep 20–30 g of starter; feed it 100–150 g flour per cycle. Small jars discard less and warm through faster.
- Peak is the target: use starter at its triple-and-dome moment (4–8 hours after feeding at room temp) — not on the calendar's schedule.
- The final two feeds matter: two consecutive 12-hour feeds before baking put the culture at full strength. A single feed of a sleepy jar underperforms.
The discard economy
Maintenance feeding produces discard by design — it is flour and water with culture, and it is food: pancakes, crackers, waffles, quick breads. The calculator shows the flour your schedule consumes, so the bag in the pantry matches the habit.