The starter was alive and needed to be fed, I knew that.
When I first got a sourdough starter, it was unclear if what I had acquired was a gift or an old-timey curse. The starter was alive and needed to be fed, I knew that. Various intense Reddit forums and 14-page recipes indicated that baking sourdough was more of a lifestyle than an occasional baking project, and that it was best accomplished using spreadsheets and thermometers and perhaps acquiring a nanny cam to watch the starter at all times.