The Fresh Loaf

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Starter feeding: bleached vs unbleached flour

Bob Marley's picture
Bob Marley

Starter feeding: bleached vs unbleached flour

Past the rye stage, my starter is about two weeks old and lately it's been feed almost twice daily using White Lily AP flour; it's bleached.  I observed some bubbles hours after the feeding but no real rise and dome of the mixture and I just realized that WL AP is a bleached flour.  So for this morning's feeding, 50g of Nosferatu, my starter, was fed with 50g water and 50g White Lily Bread Flour which is unbleached.  What a difference.  In less than six hours the volume has quadrupled in size with a dome on top.  And the aroma has strengthened, too.

Hmmmm, unbleached flour does make a real difference.  But later today I'll replace the WL BF for Gold Medal AP flour, unbleached and higher in starch.  I just want to keep it on a diet of AP from now on until it's about a month old and then I'll really start to incorporated it into more of my baking.

Ford's picture
Ford

It sounds as though you are well on your way to being hooked on sourdough.  If you want, you can start using Nosferatu in your baking, now. It will be better later, but why not try it?

Ford

Bob Marley's picture
Bob Marley

I probably will try it soon, especially in the next batch of pancakes.

Yerffej's picture
Yerffej

Just imagine what bleached flour does inside the human body.

PetraR's picture
PetraR

Strange, I am using bleached strong bread flour for my Wheat Starter, both the 100% and the 50% hydration Starter and both are extremly active, they both doupble and triple in just 4 hours, the stiff starter managed to quadruple last Night.

 

ghazi's picture
ghazi

Our local flour here in Bahrain is almost certainly bleached, it says enriched with folic acid. Though my starter is up and running now. In the beginning I was worried because it wasnt "organic" I wouldn't get a starter out of it, though time has taught me this is not the case. Any type of flour has starch and it seems the beasties want this the most

In an ideal world everything should be organic, but not everyone is within reach.

You've got the SD bug, its there. It will grow and grow. Enjoy:)

 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

The less protein and gluten in the flour, the easier it is for gas to escape and not raise the starter.  Feeding a little thicker (add less water) and the starter can trap gas and rise.   

Add the extra water to the recipe if you use a thicker starter formulated for a 100% hydration recipe.

If you are using a purchased commercial starter (not making a wild one) then you want to feed it, get it up and starting with a flour containing as little extra bacteria and yeast as possible.  

If you want to see what is in the archives about bleaching specifically.  Run a site search on:  naturally bleached flour ,  Are bleached flours bad?  or  your title... bleached vs unbleached flour    

baybakin's picture
baybakin

The white lilly bread flour is a much higher gluten content then the AP.
White lilly AP is much closer to a pastry flour than most "AP" flours on the market (gold medal, King Arthur, etc).
For what it's worth, I love the white lilly bread flour, and I wish I could get it more often here, it's a finer grain, and makes awesome sweet bread.

Bob Marley's picture
Bob Marley

White Lily AP is soft wheat and bleached whereas WL Bread is hard and unbleached.