Newbie Sourdough Question
I am new to sourdoughs and I made up a stiff dough levain starter a few weeks ago, but haven't used it yet. I fed it this morning and couldn't bear to keep throwing away half of it, so I fed both halves. Now I need to bake with one portion tomorrow morning. I want to make a whole wheat loaf, but all the recipes I find for whole wheat bread call for a whole wheat sourdough starter. Converting a white starter takes more time and I want to try it now.
Is there any reason why I would really have to develop a whole wheat starter? I would think a white flour starter would raise the whole wheat dough just as well. My wheat is hard white with a high protein content-- 16% and I'll be grinding it just before baking, so it won't lose anything.
Any thoughts? My original starter began with a bit of rye and whole wheat flour added. In the weekly feedings, there are a couple teaspoons of whole wheat added each time.
The other issue is that the recipe I found that I thought I could use is based on the starter in the KA baking book, which seems to be a liquidy sourdough. Mine is a stiff dough levain so I know I will need to add extra water to my dough.
Although I really want to try using sourdough, it seems so complex to keep the right sourdough alive all the time if not using it every week. I didn't realize I would have to keep making a new kind for each kind of bread.
If I don't see an answer tonight, I'll just plunge in and see what the result is. If it works, I'll post in case any other newbies have the same question.
Catherine