I have been wondering about converting my AP flour starter to a whole grain Red wheat starter. Has anyone tried this and if so, how is it? More active? etc! Thks for the help
So I decided to answer my own question as I had the time and materials to do so. I mixed fresh ground Turkey Red and Spring white wheat half and half, total 300gr with 300 gr purified water. Mixed in 100gr of my AP flour sourdough starter and left on the counter at 75 degrees room temp. In 2 hours it had almost doubled in height and was very active. In 6 hours it was just starting to fall and was a very active starter. I continued to feed it 4 more times over the next 2 days and it is a very good looking active starter with a nice aroma. Think I will keep it and try baking with it this next week.
Nice work - best way to learn is try it. And thanks for taking the time to report back.
Sorry I missed your original query. I’ve used a lot of different flours for starter and while there are definite differences in the characteristics of the starter, I’ve never had it not work. I think you might favor more or less some particular microbes, but generally speaking, any flour can feed your starter.
In my experience, the microbes like the bran and the germ; whole grain flour starter seems to be more active more quickly. And it also seems to favor the lacto bacteria; it gets more sour (and more quickly sour) than white flour starter.