Do we discard a portion of a Sourdough Starter?

When making a sourdough starter from scratch, you typically don't discard any portion of it until it's fully developed and active. During the initial days of creating the starter, you will continue to feed it with fresh flour and water at regular intervals (usually daily), allowing it to ferment and develop. As it becomes more active and bubbly, you'll continue to feed it until it's ready to be used for baking. Once your starter is mature and consistently doubles in size after feeding, it's ready to be used in sourdough bread recipes, and you can start using it without discarding any portion.

The practice of discarding a portion of the starter is often used to control its size and maintain the right balance of yeast and bacteria, especially if you're feeding it daily and don't want it to grow too large. However, when initially establishing a starter, you can conserve all of it until it's fully active and ready for baking.