Have I killed my starter?
Well, now that I understand what the numbers mean (1:1:1, 1:2:2, and so on), and also realized I could reduce the amount of flour I was using (waaaay too much), I ended up running out of unbleached AP flour tonight and fed my starter with rye flour as it was the only unbleached flour I had and, well, that's all I can come up with. I have no other excuse. So, is my starter going to go into shock or starve to death tonight. Will it totally reject the rye as the wee bacteria colonies have never been fed that as a fuel. Im feeling like a terrible bacteria parent. Should I just hang my head in shame, have a funeral for my 21 day old starter, and begin again tomorrow?
Any ideas out there? I was planning on baking my second tartine loaf on Saturday. Phooey.
kelly
Thanks for your response. I had read that rye was a better starter in several posts/blogs, but since I had began my starter on unbleached AP and stoneground whole wheat, I wasn't sure if going to straight rye would be advisable. I ran out of the AP, had never heard of anyone using straight whole wheat as a starter, and had a "what the heck" moment. We'll see if "Bertha" is still breathing (and bubbling) tomorrow.
My lil starter seems very happy when I give it rye, bubble everywhere :)
I see a lot of posts about people worrying they killed their starters. You should know that killing a starter is a very difficult thing to do accidentally. Short of dumping a cup of bleach into it, in almost all cases you can revive even the most neglected starter.
I'll agree with the above posts. Rye flour has a lot more food and natural yeast than white flour, and is pretty good for the starter.
Starters are hardier than we often give them credit !
I left a little sub-colony of starter in my parents fridge for about 8 months, no feeding (my parents went gluten-free for a short time following its creation . . . oh, the Horror ! the Horror !). I popped that sucker out, drained off the gray water collected at the top, discarded about half, and put it on a regiment of Rye feedings. Within a day and a half, the thing was swaggin' like a champ !
Although Rye will alter the flavor profile generated by a starter (different yeasts, proteins, starches, etc.), it will not ruin it. In fact, Rye is like steroids for a starter; I've found the levains I make with Rye flour always a little bubblier, a little funkier (in a good way), than those made with just wheat.
would be not to feed a starter less than the starter itself.
There are always exceptions so it helps to pay attention to the yeast as Chris writes. You may find that when the starter is cold the starter flour and feed flour are about equal. In warm temps, you may want to reduce the amount of starter to feed and/or increase the amount of food. Food amount varies when your ambient temperatures vary. A wetter starter tends to ferment faster than a thicker starter.
Wetter starters also tend to rise less as the batter cannot hold the gas as long as thicker more glutenous starters.
Mini