Grrrrr I'm so frustrated with my white SD flour starter. I made two starters, a white and whole wheat on February 9th The whole wheat took off like gangbusters but the white one is in a holding pattern only doubling every 24hrs.
I used Arrowhead Mills Organic Stone Ground Whole Wheat Flour in the whole wheat starter and King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour in the white one. I used pineapple juice to hydrate both. Once they became bubbly (around Day 7), I switched to spring water and began feeding them as they doubled. The feeding process consisted of discarding 2/3 of the starter then adding water & flour at a 1:1:1 ratio. Everything was coming together on schedule. Both starters doubled a day later.
Their results diverged after the next feeding. The whole wheat starter began closing the time gap between doubling while the white starter stood pat, only doubling every 24 hrs. Once the whole wheat starter began doubling every 2 hrs, I popped it in the fridge. Now I thaw and feed it every 4 days and it doubles in 2 hrs or less. The white starter languishes on the counter, only doubling every 24 hrs.
I looked for answers from the forum. Four days ago, I divided the white starter into 4 samples and tried 3 different solutions. Sample 1 represents the control. Note: Only the one's that doubled have been fed. The rest have just been aerated daily to prevent spoilage. It's Day 5 of the experiment. Here's the results:
- Sample 2: Added 1 tbs whole wheat flour
- Result: Became bubbly but hasn't doubled
- Sample 3: Increased ratio to 1:2:2
- Result: Barely doubles after 36 hrs then collapses
- Sample 4: Increased ratio to 1:4:4
- Result: Became bubbly but hasn't doubled. Mixture separated with liquid on top.
I'm fresh out of ideas. I welcome your thoughts. It'd be nice to make a loaf of bread sometime this year..... Sigh :(
-wendy
starter, or using less water when feeding. The other thing to do is let the starter not just double but reach it's maximum peak. Feeding only when doubled, might be diluting the starter. :)
Um, why not just take a spoonful of ww starter and feed it white flour? I would.
I try that. I wish I could do it tonight but my WW starter is ice cold in the fridge. I'll pull it out and add it to a sample tomorrow.
Thanks Mini :)
-wendy
Since your whole wheat starter is going gangbusters, why not take a spoonful or two and use it to start a brand new culture with the white flour? After a few feedings the residual bran from the whole wheat will all but disappear, but you'll have the nice healthy organisms from the whole wheat culture growing in your white flour.
They may still not behave exactly as when fed just whole wheat, but once they get used to (i.e. evolve through natural selection) the white flour you should have a pretty good culture going.
--Mike
When should I switch back to white flour?
Thanks Mike,
-wendy
just take some of the ww starter and inoculate some white wheat and water. Let it work and grow. Doesn't have to be much from the sound of it.
Try 10g ww starter with 30g water and 30g WHITE flour. I would even use the cold stuff, you can leave the ww starter in the fridge for a later date.
Use warmish water when making the white starter. That should bring up the temperature quickly.
white flour and water with your whole wheat starter 1:1:1. Start with small quantities, maybe 30g-50g each. Then, don't use any more whole wheat flour after that. Just start feeding it on your regular schedule with white flour only.
And like Mini said, doubling may not actually be the max. It could go higher than double the original volume before it has exhausted the food available. As long as there is food, the organisms will continue to multiply, thus giving you the greatest rising and flavoring potential. Keep watching it until it looks like it has a dimple in the middle - but don't wait until it starts to shrink back down the sides of the container.
--Mike
Beat me by 3 minutes :-) LOL
40 g of white flour and 30 g of water. I'm thinking your white starter is just too thin like Mini Says.
Why do you need two starters anyway. When you want a different starter take a tablespoon of what you have out and feed it with whatever flour you want.
same. There are many different LAB and yeast that live together in various combinations and they each produce different amounts and kinds of acid, CO2 and ethanol. Many tines what you get is what wee beasties came with the flour you use. In the Pacific NW where hi gluten, white, hard spring wheat is grown, you get different ones than you do for Desert Dururm grown in the desert SW or red winter hard wheat grown in Kansas or rye grown in the cold wet portions of Canada.
Many times, the best way to get a different culture flavor and outcome is to make an new starter using a different grain and see how you like that one.