Failure and Success.

I didn't end up making bread last Friday, because my leaven didn't do what it was supposed to do. It just kind of sat there, looking pathetic. I even let it sit ALL DAY, in my nice WARM OVEN, and still - nada. I was disappointed to say the least (truthfully, I was downright depressed). However, some more research and troubleshooting revealed that my starter wasn't strong enough to make leaven yet - most resources recommended that the starter be rising and falling predictably for at least a WEEK before attempting to make your leaven.
Ok, so, fast-forward a week. My starter has been rising and falling predictably since saturday, and is doing quite nicely in the small half of our oven with the light on intermittently. Tonight I will attempt another leaven, so that perhaps tomorrow I can actually make actual bread. However, I wanted to share the things I have discovered in the past week that have made keeping/feeding my starter easier and more successful:
1. I ditched the glass containers for ziploc one-cup containers. I did this for a few reasons: because they are all the same size, I can visually gauge each rise/fall cycle more easily without having to remember where it was to begin with. Since I feed the same amount of flour/water each time, it always starts at the same level. Also, they are clear like glass, but don't get too warm in the oven - the glass was "cooking" the outer edges of my starter, killing some of the bacteria and making cleanup a pain. They are also cheap/replaceable, so I can have lots of them on hand. Lastly, they have a lid, which I can place lightly on top of the container to keep it from drying out better than a towel or a potholder.
2. I have begun feeding it the same amount of flour/water each time (40g/each). I have found that this amount of food is optimal for the starter in that it is just enough for it to eat in about 24 hours without getting gross and/or watery (that hooch that I was talking about the other day is BAD - it means your bacteria are starving).
3. I keep my starter in the small half of our double oven. We rarely use it, so there's no danger of anyone accidentally cooking my starter. It also gets pretty warm in there with just the light on, which doesn't use that much energy and reminds people that there is something in there when I'm not home.
So that is what I have learned thus far in the bread-making process. It is a lot harder than I thought, but I'm learning as I go, both from the book from Tartine and the vast informational wealth of the internet. Also, some trial and error. Lots and lots of error.