Hello!
I’ve used the breadtopia starter for several years now and it has always worked beautifully! I’m trying to convert part of it into whole wheat, is there any thing I should do differently when feeding it?
I can’t think of anything.
Have you noticed any difference in flavor? Is it worth it to keep different starters (rye, ww, etc.)–does it truly contribute to difference in flavor in end product? I see conflicting thoughts on this when I look online. Thx!
Good morning, @bonnieauslander. Funny you should ask about keeping different starters because I actually attempted to do just that a few months ago. I have a tried and true plain white organic AP flour starter, named Cyril, who was gifted to me back in 2018. I love Cyril. He rules! I got the notion in my head that I should develop a rye starter too since I had read how lots of bakers were very successful with it. I took a portion of Cyril and fed him rye flour. All I can say is, “WOW!” He loved it. I named him Sir Riehold, son of Cyril. I started experimenting with my favorite bred recipes by baking them with Sir Riehold instead of Cyril to see if I could discern any appreciable difference. Honestly, I couldn’t tell much of a difference. Did Sir Riehold give me a slightly higher rise on the finished bread? Possibly. Was there any appreciable taste difference to the finished bread? Not that I could really tell. I have come to the conclusion for my own personal baking routine and style that trying to maintain more than one starter isn’t really worth it for me. NOT that I personally want to kill off Sir Riehold, but I’m returning to my faithful Cyril as my “wee beastie”. Besides, two jars of starter in my fridge takes up moref room in there, LOL!
Leah
Hey Leah, I used to keep several and found it exhausting. Now I only keep rye. Paul made the comment referencing starters that it makes little difference as he only uses one. OF COURSE a purest would object but I don’t care if there is 5g of rye starter in my white bread you can’t taste it. I have tried in the past white starter, Turkey Red and Einkorn starter in other breads and could not tell it was in there.
With regards to the rye starter from one of my books though you have to be careful with the rye as it can be LAB dominant if too old and then won’t be any good as a leaven. I try to use mine up (only keep a very small amount on hand) within a month and keep making a new batch by inoculation, the pH never gets below 4.3 or so. Only issue is it tales 4 to 5 days to get it going again.
In my book the mixing of rye into a white starter can make for a very healthy leaven.
Dennis
Hi Dennis! Yes, I did find trying to maintain both Cyril and Sir Riehold to be quite taxing. Life is complicated enough without dealing with two starters, LOL.
Leah