Sourdough Directions - How to Feed Your "Pet Flour"

As some of you know, I have been obsessively distributing sourdough starter after our homemade family Christmas presents this year and the birth of my newfound sourdough obsession.  I brought some starter out to Portland in an attempt to lure Kurt and Hannah into getting back into sourdough since apparently they were sourdough people years ago.  So I go about explaining the idea of keeping your sourdough alive to Hannah. Hannah, who has been known to mistakenly use air quotes much like Joey on Friends, was getting the hang of this concept of strangely feeding this flour to keep it alive, and started calling it our "pet flour" because we were constantly worrying about getting our sourdough fed and ready in time for our next round of pita, pizza, bread, pancakes, you name it, and thus the term "pet flour" was born thanks to Hannah and her successful use of air quotes in the best and most perfect way possible.

Anyway so here are the directions for trying to keep your "pet flour" alive:

1. For those of you who have gotten sourdough starter from someone (ie me), the first step is to mix in 1/2 cup lukewarm water (preferably filtered or chlorine free) and 1 cup flour.  The starter will be fairly thick, like pancake batter.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature (for up to 12 hours max), until it gets more liquidy and bubbly.  If it doesn’t get bubbly before 12 hours, stir the starter again, and divide it in half; discard half, and feed the remaining half with 1/2 cup lukewarm water and 1 cup flour.
3. Stir the starter down. Place it in a stoneware or glass container, loosely covered with a lid, or a screw-on top, not fully screwed on. Refrigerate it until you're ready to use it in a recipe.
4. Most sourdough recipes will call for 1 cup or so of "fed" sourdough starter. Here's how to turn your refrigerated starter into "fed" starter.
5. Up to 12 hours before beginning a recipe, stir the starter and discard 1 cup. You can give this 1 cup to a friend, or use 1 cup to make pancakes, waffles, whatever. Whatever you do with it, just get rid of 1 cup (or about half of the bowl) of starter.
6. Feed the remaining starter with 1/2 cup lukewarm water and 1 cup flour.
7. Let it sit at room temperature, covered, for 4 to 12 hours, till bubbly. It's now "fed" and ready to use in a recipe.  In the summer, it will get bubbly quickly and in the winter it may take up to 12 hours.  If it ever reaches 12 hours and it’s still not bubbly, discard 1 cup (or half of it) and feed it ½ cup lukewarm water and 1 cup flour again.
8. Once you've removed however much starter your recipe calls for (usually 1 cup), feed the remainder with 1/2 cup lukewarm water and 1 cup flour. Let this remaining starter sit, covered, at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours, until bubbly. 
9. Stir down, return to its container, and refrigerate again until the next time you want to use it.

To keep sourdough in the refrigerator:

1. If you're not planning on using your sourdough starter every day, take it out and feed it once every few weeks.  Starter that hasn't been fed for a month or more will still probably be just fine.
2. If you leave it for 3-4 plus weeks, your sourdough may have a substantial layer of green/gray/brown liquid on top. That's OK; it's simply alcohol from the fermenting yeast. However, if the liquid on top is pinkish; or if the sourdough smells "off" or bad (not simply tangy, or like alcohol), then your starter has attracted the wrong bacteria, and should be discarded.
3. Otherwise, stir the liquid on top into the starter below.
4. Keep stirring till it's smooth, then discard 1 cup (or about half of it).
5. Add 1/2 cup lukewarm water and 1 cup flour.
6. If you’re not planning to use it and just want to feed it and put it back in the refrigerator, stir till smooth, then cover and refrigerate it; no need to wait for it to become bubbly.