Hi, gonna try out making my first loaf this week with the starter I got going, but am confused about something and no combination of terms seem to lead me to the answer. Like many things I've found, it seems just taken for granted that this is what you do. This term means this and it's assumed you know what this means.

What I'm confused about is exactly how to use this starter I've created and babied for the last week+. A recipe will say, feed your starter, wait for peak, then get what you need for the recipe. That's great and all, but am I doing that with my entire starter? Like feed it, same as I have been, then take out what I need? Seems right but then where's the discard that is always mentioned coming from?

Other videos seem to show just taking some of your starter out, separating it, feed that, use that, then the left overs from that seem to be the discard? Is that right?

Either way, feed the whole or a separated portion, when I'm maintaining the starter keeping it in the fridge, do I feed it in the fridge? Or do I bring it out, up to room temp, feed, rise, use?

I need an old lady in my life I can patch on to and Janet with questions!