Things bakers know: Sluggish starter? Add a little whole grain flour. (2024)
Consistency is not my strong suit. I have a terrible habit of picking up hobbies and putting them right back down. I declare a word of the year every January 1st and I forget it by January 20th. I still haven’t developed the meditation practice I promised myself.
This trend continues when it comes to my sourdough starter maintenance. (Shhh, don’t tell my coworkers!) I’m a forgetful sourdough parent, the kind who would leave it stranded at soccer practice because I didn’t remember I was on pick-up duty.
But that’s all fine, because I have a baker’s trick up my sleeve: Whenever I return to my starter, bashful at how long it’s been since I said hi, I give it a treat. And that treat is whole grain flour.
When we feed sourdough starter, we’re quite literally doing just that: feeding the yeast and bacteria that have been cultivated in this simple mixture of water and flour. This, in turn, helps them thrive so they can go on to both flavor and leaven our bread. And all-purpose flour works just fine as a food source, especially if you’re feeding your starter regularly (which you definitely should!). But like most living things, the yeast and bacteria in starter do especially well when they have more nutrients to snack on. “The minerals and other food present in whole grains help give a big feed, encouraging growth,” explains Baking Ambassador Martin Philip. “Using a small amount of that rocket fuel is a great trick to literally get things off the ground.”
According to Baking School Instructor Lucas Diggle, whole grains can also be helpful to encourage activity in a brand-new sourdough starter. “It’s not uncommon to begin a white liquid levain (the kind of culture that most home bakers tend to have) entirely with whole rye,” he says. “Whole grains contain exponentially more sourdough-friendly microorganisms than white flour.” Laura Valli, a doctoral student studying rye at the Washington State University’s Breadlab, adds that “rye, in particular, contains more free sugars that are easily accessible for the yeast and bacteria to feed on, and it has a higher content of starch-degrading enzymes. That all speeds up the fermentation.”
Photography by Kristin Teig; food styling by Liz Neily
If you’re like me and have neglected your starter for a little too long — perhaps you’ve been out of town or simply forgot it in the back of the fridge — you can use a little whole grain flour (such as pumpernickel or whole wheat flour) to feed your starter and give it a boost. Martin recommends 10% to 20% whole grain in proportion to white flour, but adds that “it's flexible — you don’t need to be super precise with this.” The small amount won’t affect your starter’s flavor, and you can still use it in any recipe calling for “regular” (not whole grain) starter.
This trick also works if your starter is merely acting a little sluggish. The whole grains in these flours will accelerate fermentation of both the bacteria and the yeast in the starter, like revving the gas. This step will help get yourstarter ready for use more quickly.
And remember, while this trick is helpful, it’s not necessary to achieving a healthy, thriving starter. “Mature starters that have been maintained with unbleached all-purpose flour will generally revive well with all-purpose flour, even starters that have been neglected in the fridge for an extended time,” says Barb Alpern, a bread expert on our Baker’s Hotline. Laura adds, “The fact that rye flour ferments quicker than wheat flour should not lead to the assumption that the slower-fermenting wheat starter is less healthy. Wheat flour just takes longer to reach the peak ripeness.”
Maintaining sourdough starter is a practice that requires paying attention, responding to your living culture, and giving it what it needs. And sometimes, what it may needis a little boost of whole grains.
Stock up onpumpernickel orwhole wheat flourso you can always have some on hand for your starter — andwhole grain bread recipes to make with it.
Cover photo by Danielle Sykes; food styling by Liz Neily.
Begin by discarding all but 1/2 cup of the old starter. Then, feed the remaining starter with fresh flour and water. The feeding ratio should ideally be 1:1:1 (starter:flour:water). Leave the mixture at room temperature until it becomes bubbly and active, which usually takes about a day.
All-Purpose Flour: All-purpose flour, which is a blend of hard and soft wheat, is a popular choice for feeding sourdough starter. It provides a good balance of protein and starch, which promotes a healthy fermentation process. Bread Flour: Bread flour has a higher protein content compared to all-purpose flour.
NOTE: A sourdough starter can be created with all-purpose flour alone but the addition of whole wheat flour will give the starter a boost in the fermentation process. Bottled water, filtered, and most tap water can be used in your starter.
(Case in point: If you are working with a newly-created sourdough starter that isn't at peak strength yet—if the internal crumb is tight or the loaf does not spring sufficiently—you might want to add a little yeast to your doughs until it is, to guarantee an open crumb.)
This way, you'll know when it's ready to use. For example, if you want to make dough at 7 PM (and your starter takes about 5 hrs to rise), feed it at 2 PM. Remove and discard half of your sourdough starter from the jar. Feed what's left in the jar with equal parts flour and water by weight (1:1:1 feeding ratio).
Dilution reduces acidity. And larger feedings encourage yeast activity. I do this by putting 2 TBSP (60 grams) of the slow starter in a clean stainless steel bowl, whisking in 1/4 cup (60 grams) of water, and then whisking in 1/2 cup (60 grams) of the plainest white flour I can find.
Sometimes you can remediate a weak, acidic starter with a single high feeding ratio. The most common “high feeding ratios” are 1:5:5 and 1:10:10. These ratios help knock down the acidity of your starter with one large feeding.
Want to turn your stiff starter back into a liquid starter? Rip the stiff starter into small pieces and mix it with lukewarm water. The ratio is 3 parts starter to 1 part water, by either weight or volume: e.g., 3/4 cup (6 ounces) stiff starter added to 1/4 cup (2 ounces) water.
Whole Wheat Flour: Some bakers swear by using whole wheat flour in their starters. This flour includes the whole grain of wheat, including the bran, endosperm, and germ.
If your recipe calls for more than 227g (about 1 cup) of starter, feed it without discarding until you've reached the amount you need (plus 113g to keep and feed again).
Glutinous flours, such as Churchill Flour or our Strong White Bread Flour combined with spelt flour, rye flour and wholemeal flour, tend to work best for producing sourdough.
*Do not try baking with your starter right after feeding it. Allow time for it to grow and feast on the flour before using it. Starters are usually ready to bake with around 4-12 hours after a feeding depending on the amount you feed your starter. The larger the feeding, the more time it needs to ferment.
Ideally you want to feed your starter with one of the following water choices: Clean Spring Water. Bottled Water (but read the source of it) Filtered Tap Water (jug filter, fridge filter or house filter)
A Herman starter or Amish Friendship Bread Starter is typically made with milk, flour, sugar and commercial yeast.A sourdough starter is generally made only of flour and water. A Herman starter will be sweeter and more mellow flavored than a sourdough 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.
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