Starter substitute.

Anonymous
Hello. So i have a rye starter and a wheat starter. I have been using a 24 hour loaf recipe which calls for a teaspoon of rye starter. If i use the wheat starter will it make a difference? I guess my real question is, what is the difference in activity between a rye and wheat starter? Thank you
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Staff 2018 January 8

For such a small quantity of starter, as long as your starters are equally robust, the difference to the final loaf using the two different types of starter would be fairly negligible.

Different flours are likely to produce different flavours (and textures) and the effect on the final taste and look of the loaf will be dependent on the quantity of starter used in the dough.

You could try an experiment, create a loaf using a certain type of flour with the two different starters and see what you observe - let us know how you go if you try this out.

Staff 2018 January 8

Some words of wisdom from SourDom:

Some recipes call for rye or wholemeal starters. You don’t need to keep multiple different starters going (though some enthusiastic people do). You can convert your stock starter into a rye or wholemeal starter by simply refreshing it with that flour for a couple of days.

Note, that sometimes starters will go on strike when their usual food is changed. For example you might see a sudden drop in activity with the change to a different flour. If that happens you can either persist (the activity will often come back), or revert to your usual flour, and then add in the new flour more gradually. For example you could start with 30% rye, and then progressively increase the proportion of rye with each refreshment.

 

https://sourdough.com/blog/sourdom/beginners-blog-starter-scratch

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