May 13, 2020 - 5:46am
Should starter be fed the same type of flour as the dough?
Hey!
I have a starter that latey has been fed only whole wheat flour. I like that it seems to be more active and happy with it.
However, I want to make a bread using mainly bread flour ( some whole wheat and rye too). Is the fact that the starter is on whole wheat only an issue?
How about a rye starter? Do I need rye starter for a rye bread? Or does it matter if i use a rye starter for a normal bread?
Thanks!
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This is a good question that I am also interested in answering. Jeffrey Hammelman writes in the book Bread that it doesn't matter what flour we use. Still, I don't know why to use different starters. Maybe rye yeast will more easily absorb sugars from rye flour? Once upon a time my brother made a mistake and, when preparing sourdough, added wheat flour to the rye starter. a very active leaven was formed :)
If you use the starter to make a levain it does not make much difference. So you use 50 gram starter foor you white bread. And the starter contains 50% rye and 50% white flourt you only add 12,5 gram rye tot the totaal. That would not make a noticeable difference I think.
my starter is wholegrain spelt and the majority of my flour for my sourdough is white flour.
I have been adding a little more spelt into the mix as i prefer a tighter crumb.
I also use only whole wheat flour for my starter, but since my breads are a blend anyway, I just add whatever flours strike my fancy to complete the dough. I even use a regular starter for rye. If you want a mostly rye bread, just split off some regular starter, feed with rye a couple times, and voila, rye starter!