Normal maintenance feeding

I keep 50g firm starter as per JMonkey--5g starter, 15g water 25 g flour. If I need more for a build I just double it. It's a compact amount, but it's enough.

JIP, 

First, there are lots of very experienced sourdough bakers on TFL who will, I hope, weigh in on your question.

It sounds as if you already have a firm starter and want a liquid one as well.

A 100% hydration starter is equal parts water and flour, and is indeed a liquid starter. It leaves open the ratio of flour to starter. The 1:1:1 ratio you mention is one instance of 100% hydration; the question is, is that enough flour to feed the yeast in your culture? (In my case, no. If I used 1:1:1 my yeast would be finished feasting in 4 hours or less, and I want the process to take at least 8 hours to allow flavor to develop.)

So my short answer to you is: you can use 1:1:1 if your culture ripens in the kind of time you need for developing the flavor you want. If it exhausts itself too quickly, you need to increase the ratio of flour to starter.

Back to hydration: an alternative to 100% hydration on the liquid side is 125%, a hydration level favored by Hamelman in Bread for his Vermont Sourdough, for example. That's 5 parts water to 4 parts flour. You still need to decide what ratio of flour to starter you want, of course. You could do 1, 2, 3, or 4 to 5:4, for example. (The last, 4:5:4 is the closest to 1:1:1, of course.)

Still, there are other issues. Some of us who don't bake every day have seen an advantage in keeping a firm starter. It appears to me that my starter maintains its activity better in the fridge if I keep it at, say, 1:2:3 or 1:3:4, or 1:3:5 for that matter. It also seems to bounce back better. If I need a 125% hydration starter for a particular recipe, I adjust it during the final build. I should point out that I now refresh my starter 2 times per week when not using it. I find it requires fewer feedings to get it to ripeness when I bake with it.

Hamelman uses a "liquid levain" for tangier breads. He uses a firm starter for what he calls a more French-style Pain au Levain, which is less sour. However not everyone agrees on the liquid starter = tangier equation, as one sees here on TFL.

Finally on Hamelman: he has a really rich and interesting discussion of temperature and hydration level when discussing rye sourdough, specifically the Detmold 3-stage process of building rye sourdough bread. This method has codified the hydration level and temperature best suited to develop each essential component of a sourdough culture: yeast, acetic acid, and lactic acid.

This is, to me, serious food for thought.

Hope this helps.

Soundman (David)