Hi! My aunt has been baking for years and makes an amazing standard sourdough, but for some reason we can't get the Whole Wheat sourdough starter to ferment like our normal one.
We have no idea what is wrong with it, we've tried different water levels, leaving it for longer periods of time, it stays the same temperature as a standard starter right next to it but nothing seems to change or make the starter happy, so I thought to post and see if anybody might know why it isn't fermenting properly.
Any advice or questions is greatly appreciated, thank you!
Did you start this whole wheat starter with a seed of the white starter? How are you feeding it?
What seems different? I say that because a WW or whole grain-heavy starter will seem very sludgy compared to a white flour one. It may never get bubbly on top. It could be fermenting fine but the main sign would be a lot of bubbles you can see through the side of the container.
Or do you mean you tried to create a new one with WW and that's what didn't seem to ever take off?
TomP
Make a half and half loaf till you get used to it and go from there. Use yeast if ya have to. The starter is another story. I would get some from your Aunt and go by her instructions. You can go from there. That would be a quick way to go. Enjoy!
Convert your starter to whole wheat starter or bran starter. I use bran starter nowadays, no longer have that problem (but bran starter takes longer to establish itself than whole wheat starter)
ww absorbs much more, so whetten it more. proof box helps, not expensive and keeps temp and humidity. or make ap flour starter and add to ww breads.
start with some rye (just grind some rye in a coffee grinder,ert if you need a little) which has sooo much active yeast and bacteria.
feeding twice a day??
good luck!!