Can I Feed My Sourdough Starter Different Flours? #AskWardee 021 (2024)

FAQs

Can I Feed My Sourdough Starter Different Flours? #AskWardee 021? ›

Yes you can mix the flours in your sourdough starter. This can be an economical way to add some whole grains or rye. So you might want to feed 25% rye and 75% all purpose for example. There's really no hard and fast rules for what ratio of flour you use.

The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour.

To give it a feeding, I discard the ripe sourdough starter in the jar down to 20g, add 70g fresh all-purpose flour, 30g whole rye flour, and 100g water.

I accidentally fed my starter bread flour instead of AP did I mess it up?!? Nope. It has the carbs yeast likes to eat still. The difference between bread and AP flour is a small percentage of protein.

short answer, yes, though it takes far longer for AP flour to go bad. I've had dull Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye that smelled fine and was still long before its 'use-by' date screw up my starter (fortunately, the switch to a fresher local brand led to a full recovery.)

Can I Mix The Flours In My Sourdough Starter? Yes you can mix the flours in your sourdough starter. This can be an economical way to add some whole grains or rye. So you might want to feed 25% rye and 75% all purpose for example.

Compared to whole wheat flour, rye flour is said to be the most nutrient- and amylase-dense option for a sourdough starter. Overall, it has a lower gluten protein content than wheat flour, which means it produces slack, sticky, and dense doughs.

Experts recommend feeding a starter twice daily. And at each feeding, you hold onto 1/2 cup of your original starter, discard the rest, and then add its same weight in water and flour. With this schedule, you'd discard almost a cup of sourdough starter every day.

Yes, you can overfeed your sourdough starter. Audrey explains: “Every time you add more flour and water, you are depleting the existing population of natural bacteria and yeast.” If you keep adding more and more, eventually you'll dilute the starter so much that you'll just have flour and water.

SWITCHING TO A NEW TYPE OF SOURDOUGH STARTER

It is fairly easy to convert a starter between white, whole wheat, rye, spelt, or other gluten-containing flours. Switching to a gluten-free flour is a bit more tricky, as it tends to require more feedings to become vigorous and maintain its efficacy in baking.

How soon after feeding my starter can I make bread? ›

Fed sourdough starter refers to a starter that has been fed flour and water (preferably by weight). You should feed the starter equal or greater than its weight after discarding a portion. You should wait at least 2-4 hours or until the starter is at its peak before you use it in your baking.

What Happens If You Feed a Sourdough Starter Too Much Flour? If you add more flour than water into your sourdough starter jar, it will be a very stiff starter.

If your sourdough starter won't rise anymore, reset it by putting 25 grams of starter in a jar and feed it 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water. With this ratio, your starter should double in size in about 12-24 hours. If your starter has never risen before, follow a proven guide to create an active starter.

Some sourdough starters double within 24 hours, others take a few weeks of feeding and coaxing. The truth is, if your starter is bubbling, then it's showing that there is signs of fermentation. If it's not doubling (or even tripling) then it's not ready to bake sourdough with. Give it more time to develop and mature.

Long term lack of feeding at room temperature can absolutely ruin your starter. Contamination: The yeast and bacteria in your sourdough starter are willing and capable of keeping some contamination at bay.

If you have too much starter compared to the additional flour and water you're adding, your hungry starter consumes all the nutrients and then it's not as bubbly.

Sourdough starter made with whole wheat flour ferments much more rapidly than white flour. This is because the wild yeasts respond more vigorously to having all the parts of the wheat berry present, happily consuming the flour and water much more quickly.

Whole wheat and rye flours provide more nutrients for your starter and ferment more actively, but working with rye flour makes starter maintenance easier than whole wheat. Rye provides increased fiber and nutrients similar to whole wheat flour, but because of its lower gluten amount it's much easier to stir.

Rice flour (optional): rice flour doesn't have any gluten, this creates a nonstick surface between the dough and proofing basket. It also has an added benefit of making your sourdough scoring patterns pop. If you don't like the taste of rice flour you can substitute cornmeal or semolina.

We make our sourdough starter from superfine brown rice flour, (we use Authentic Foods). If you use a brown rice flour that is not labeled “superfine”, your starter will lack volume, and it will be gritty. Trust us on this. We had a side by side comparison of each, using the same method.