How I make my NP dough

[guyskr]

After some minor process tweaking, I got to a really nice result!
In my case, the secret was to not over-kneed the dough and to let it raise a little more than I usually do.

[TXCraig1]

Pretty!

[Faye]

I started my ischia culture 2 weeks ago according to the instructions in the book.
I kept it at 90F during the first 24hrs and since then I am keeping it at 71F.
until day 5 I fed it all 24hrs 1:1:1 (maybe a bit more water to reach thick pancake batter consistency).
Since day 5 I am feeding it every 12 hours.
The starter reaches its peak around 7-8hours after the feeding, which is about 1.8-1.9x of the initial volume, before it collapses.

I assumed that the activity will increase if I just continue feeding it all 12 hours, but it remains the same.
In other words, I am far from any doubling or even tripling volume within 2-3 hours after feeding, which is how many users in this thread are describing their ischia starter. 

What am I doing wrong? 

[TXCraig1]

71F is pretty cool. My room temp is more like 77F.

[Faye]

71F is pretty cool. My room temp is more like 77F.

My room temp is around 77F too.
But I'm keeping the SD in a temp controlled environment at 71F. If I'm not mistaken, that's the ideal temp to keep SD starter at.

But being able to keep it at 71F obviously doesn't solve my problem that it rises too slowly.
Do you have any idea how I can make my starter more active so that it can rise 2-3x within 2-3 hours after feeding? Is it even necessary to rise that fast for using it in your recipe?

If I'm not mistaken, somewhere in the thread you mentioned the following:

1. It should at least double within 4-12 hours before it collapses
2. You time your feeding and your feeding ratio so that the starter will just reach its peak when you are ready to make the dough.

Is that correct?

[TXCraig1]

With SD, how you do it is nowhere near as important is doing it the same way every time.

Find a workflow that works for you and your culture and do that. It's the only way to have predictable results.