Changing what I feed my startee

[Holly9876]

I purchased the live starter and it has done beautifully But I purchased it to make my Grandmother’s sourdough bread. Upon looking at her recipe it calls for the starter to be fed potato flakes and sugar before using. It also states feeding this every 5 days to feed it. Can I start feeding my starter with that or is it a completely different type of starter?

[Fermentada (Melissa)]

It is fine to change the food of your sourdough starter, keeping in mind that the yeast and bacteria microbes need starch/sugar. So something like almond flour (mostly fat) may weaken/kill it over time.

Potato flakes and sugar should work well though. Your starter’s texture will change quite a bit with that food though, since you won’t have any stretchy gluten. The aroma may change as well.

I suggest you divide your starter into two jars so you can keep feeding one wheat, “white” or rye flour. That way you have options.

Here’s an article/experiment you might find interesting:

Sourdough Microbiomes and Bread Flavor

And on the off chance that you’re making Salt Rising Bread, here’s some info, article links, process photos:

Salt Rising Bread

Last weekend, I tried a new type of naturally leavened bread: Salt Rising Bread. It’s known for having the texture of a delicate cake and the flavor and aroma of a funky cheese. It very much lived up to these descriptions. The starter and dough were super smelly and the final bread tasted faintly cheesy, mostly through the aroma. I might do it again, and if so, will add more salt to the dough. Salt rising bread is leavened from a Clostridium perfringens bacteria starter and it produces hydrogen…