I took Pete's starter from the fridge- it looked to be about 3/4 of a cup of soft biscuit-like texture. No aroma other than that of a nice starter: fresh, not soured at all. (NB: Carol Field describes a starter made with a 2:1 flour-water ratio as a biga. Helpful to know when determining how much starter to use to leaven breads when yeast is specified.)
Starter was left on the counter at 11 pm. I checked on it at 9:30 this morning: lots of little bubbles, looked good:
I emptied it into a pyrex mixing bowl and added roughly 1 c. water (filtered, from my faucet) and 2 c. AP, unbleached flour. Stirred well, it mixed into the same soft biscuit-y texture.I put the empty little plastic bowl (unwashed) on the kitchen scale and set it to zero. I added roughly the same amount of newly refreshed starter as the old- about 3/4 c, it weighed in at 6 oz. I'll measure the volume amount next time.)
I covered it with plastic "shower cap" and set it back in the fridge.
The refreshed starter left weighed 17.75 oz.
It went into my 2 quart measuring cup/mixing bowl, showing roughly 1.75 cups at the measure mark. I set it on the stove, under the little stove light, with a plastic cover. I will bake something from this later today if it shows lots of activity by mid afternoon.
