Sourdough rise with different flours
I recently started a sourdough starter on June 15th (primary starter). It has been a 1:1:1 ratio of starter to water to King Arthur all purpose unbleached flour. After about 3 weeks. I noticed that I could get smaller bubbles, but hardly any rise. Only about 1/2”. Whether I tried a 1:1:1 or a 1:3:3, the rise would not change.
Recently, I took a bit of the starter and fed it 1:2:2 home ground whole wheat flour and it’s almost doubling in size within 12 hours. this is my secondary starter.
My question is, if my starter will not grow with all purpose, will it rise when I make the sourdough bread with AP flour even though it’s rising with whole wheat right now? I’m concerned that it’s doing great in the jar, but will not rise a all purpose sourdough bread.
I have seen my SD starter being strong in a jar with daily feeds but it disappointed me many times with a real dough. Every SD starter is different so I am not sure if it can be generalized. The only way to find out is to try it with a real dough and see what happen. If it does not rise then use some instant yeast to save the dough. Good luck and have fun with it. Happy Canada Day!
Both whole wheat and rye flour are known to boost sourdough activity.
If it were me, I would switch back to AP to confirm things are working well.
Or just go for it. Make a loaf and see what happens.
Good luck.
I have been feeding the AP for coming up on 4 weeks now and the most rise I’ve ever seen is 1/2”. Is this normal? I get a few bubbles, but nothing like the wheat starter.
when fed with AP? If it's fairly thing, the gases could just be escaping. What causes rise, after all, is the trapping of the gases which is easier to see with a stiffer starter. Even when both are 100%, my rye starters are stiffer than AP starters.
Yes, it does seem to be a bit thinner than my wheat starters.
I only keep one starter: a firm whole rye culture at about 85% hydration. My regular sourdough bakes require a white flour liquid levain at 125% hydration (Hamelman’s Vermont Sourdough). I convert some of the firm rye culture to the liquid levain over two feeds. The pictures show the stiff rye culture, the liquid levain ready to mix into the dough and the finished loaves.
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I would eventually like to have only one starter, but I wanted to try out different flours without killing my main one