The Fresh Loaf

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'Nuther starter question...

MarkS's picture
MarkS

'Nuther starter question...

I got the ascorbic acid and remade the starter. It's doing VERY well! However, after a week and after seeing it double in size, I decided to start swapping out the whole wheat flour for white flour (KA whole wheat to KA bread flour). Much to my surprise, the starter did not like this one bit! It started to smell like acetone and a quick Google search stated that this is do to the starter being very hungry. Last night, I removed 800 grams (it's a liter of starter in a 4 liter Cambro container) of the starter and replaced it with a 50/50 mix of water and WW flour and this morning it's rising again. For the time being, I'll continue to feed WW. I would like to switch it out to white flour though as I don't do a lot of WW breads. What process should I follow to make this change and when should I start doing it?

phaz's picture
phaz

Make the changes - expect different results. That doesn't mean it's dead - just different. Enjoy!

tpassin's picture
tpassin

Phase in the white flour gradually.  Or you could just continue the starter as is with WW - If the rest of the flour in a dough is white, the WW in the starter shouldn't matter much.  An all-white starter is likely to last longer before it needs to be refreshed, if that's a consideration.

One other consideration is whether your white flour is malted (or enhanced with an "enzyme") or not.  In the US most all-purpose and bread flour is malted/enhanced, but apparently that's not the case everywhere. If not, you might get better results adding a little diastatic malt, WW, or whole rye to the basically white starter. The malt/enzyme helps to break down some starches into sugars the yeast can use.

TomP