Re-starting Starter with regular wheat?
Okay, so long story short I had an all rye starter that was going well. I got pregnant and couldn't stand anything sour (among other food aversions) so I got rid of it since I didn't know how to preserve it. Well, I'm trying again and my open rye flour expired last February, and my unopened one expired in March. Both are in the ziploc type packaging (organic Arrowhead Mills brand). Since I recently (last month) bought King Arthur wheat flour, I wonder if I can use that or if it should be the "stone milled" kind. I have already put my flour in the freezer over night (to kill bugs), so I'm not sure if it's viable to use since it's been frozen. I had great success with the rye, and when I tried again with the expired flour I got no where.
Should I buy a small bag of stone ground wheat or is regular okay? I do have spelt, so I can do half and half, but since spelt is expensive, I'd rather save it to put in the bread. Do you think the unopened rye would be fine, or not? It is in a sealed bag (not paper).
I have been thinking about what other grains I could use in bread, not as a starter but in general. Is barley or millet a good one to try? My store stopped carrying Quinoa, right when I ran out. I can only get it online now. The store nearest me also carries a pasta flour mix, I can't get durum or semolina separately unless I order online. Is barley or millet light flavored like spelt or is it strong like wheat?
Now that things are getting a little more manageable around here with the new baby and 4 yr old, I can finally bake bread again! :)
I am an inexperienced (to put it charitably) sourdough bread maker, but my starter goes great guns with King Arthur whole wheat as its source of food, and I don't think it is stone ground.
Taste the rye flour, mull it around in your mouth for a while and spit it out? Did it go rancid or does it just taste like flour? Wait a few minutes for any after taste. If not rancid, use it to get a starter going. :)
I will use the unopened flour, not much of the other stuff left. I will do the rancid test next time, I should've done that.
You can even use the out-dated flour, if it isn't stale. Test the outdated flour for taste by adding a little flour and water to make a pancake dough (add sugar,salt and oil if you want). Make 1 pancake and taste it. If it is old/stale you will know by the taste. It will not harm you.
Or use any other flour you would like or have on hand. Certainly the yeasty beasties are more active if they get more minerals and vitamins from stone ground. Rye has more available sugars but they don't care. Kind of like if you feed the kids cake and cookies or fruit and vegetables. Either way they will live and grow but I have to believe the fruit and veggie crowd is healthier.
For future reference, when you want to "retire" the starter, either dry some into flakes by smearing some very thinly onto a piece of parchment paper (after it has risen from a feeding so population is high) and let it dry at room temp. When thoroughly dry, crackle it off the paper into a ziplock and store in freezer,refrigerator or even the cupboard. Revive with water and start feeding when you are interested again. Or just tuck the jar into the bottom, back of the refrig and take some from the very bottom of the jar as an inoculant for the next starter. This is less successful than drying.
Another FYI, my natural levain (another name for sourdough) bread is rarely sour. Some of the sour is in the maintenance and some is in the making of the dough. Long,warm rises or autolyses promote sourness.
Natural levain also makes great, yeast tasting pancakes,waffles and biscuits!
I saw a post a month or so ago where someone explained how to dry the starter. That's why I'm making it again. Also, the sourness is because it's warm here (my starter matured fast with rye only) and I do long (overnight mostly) rises. I'm the only one that like a bit of tang.
So now I'm doing half whole wheat and half (unopened) rye. So far it's taking off, we shall see how long the "quiet" period lasts. I didn't get any reaction the first few days with the old flour, so fingers crossed! Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to make the 123 bread. I liked that one last time, it was like a blank canvas.