Fresh flour- WOW- for starter..
I'm pretty new to Fresh Loaf and wanted to share an observation.
I just started my first successful sourdough starter last week. I live in the San Francisco Bay area. I tried two other times in the past to start a sourdough starter, but that was in Southern CA. I don't know why they didn't take, but it could have been old flour perhaps...
So, for this new starter, I began with 3 tablespoons of freshly ground flour that I got from my local farmer's market thinking I wanted to try to harvest the yeast grown as close to home as possible. This wheat was grown about 2 hours from my home.
The next day, 12 hours later, I added 60 grams of new flour (same freshly ground), 60 grams water. Within 6 hours, I saw some bubbles! Later that night, I removed 60 grams starter and added 60 grams new flour and water. Room temp is about 72 degrees.
Morning of the 3rd day, the starter had lots of bubbles and smelled different- the pH was 4.5. I used some of this starter for a loaf of bread- and much to my surprise, got some rise out of it! On the 3rd day though, I decided to save some money and switch to Bob's Red Mill organic stone ground whole wheat flour for feeding the starter. The farmer's market flour was $10 for 2 lbs, the Bob's Red Mill flour was $5 for 5 lbs!
Evening of day 3, and days 4 and 5, feeding with Bob's Red Mill, the starter looked sluggish- just a few bubbles, not like it had on day 3 morning.
This morning, day 6, I decided to throw in some whole wheat from the farmer's market again from a different farm (this one I got berries- I don't have a mill yet, so used a food processor to roughly grind the wheat). I used mostly Bob's Mill flour again, and threw in maybe a tablespoon of roughly ground berries. Oh my goodness, here we are 6 hours later, and the starter is bubbling like crazy again...
Anyway, just FYI. I read in an older bread book from the library that fresh flour seems to make a difference... and I seem to be seeing that. I'm quite sure too that the microorganism mix is changing with each change in flour, which is quite interesting too..
Especially the berries. There is naturally occurring yeast on those berries, so you are loading it up with a fresh infusion of yeasties when you do that.
without a laboratory but the starter still follows the basic route and behaviour a starter has to take to become a dependable sourdough levain for bread baking. Congratulations! Time to make bread and test it. Try a one to 5 feeding ratio, one part starter to 5 parts each water and flour, let it reach maximum peak, save a spoonful, and make a loaf!
Switching flours does lead one to think activity is slowed down and so does not switching flours. A side by side experiment, one without changing flour and one with changing flours, would make a comparison easier.
Mini :)
You might try weaning your starter by feeding it a mix of your Bob's Red Mill with the fresh ground and then gradually increasing the proportion of Red Mill flour. I live in the Bay Area too. I use King Arthur all purpose flour for my starter. I have also used Central Milling AP flour which I get at Costco - $14 for 20 pounds.
It's great to see the starter come alive. In the early days that's a goal all by itself. After you have that handled you'll start wanting to get better results out of the bread itself.
Based on my experience and what I've learned from various sources, I would advise you to abandon the fresh flour with all the new organisms gradually, starting when you feel confident you have an active starter. Once it's active, it's already loaded up with all the organisms you need, so potency shouldn't be a concern. Properly fed yeast and bacteria will reproduce and saturate the starter on their own. There isn't a need to add more.
Predictability is the next priority. That requires proper maintenance, providing a good food source at the right hydration in the right temperatures. Quality, unbleached flour is the best bet. Bringing more organisms of different strains to the party with each feeding could be counter-productive. Changing the mix is just like bringing a lot of new guests to a party: the party will change in ways you can't predict. If it ferments faster one time and slower the next, you'll have less control over your outcome.
That's the theory, anyway. Plenty of people here keep whole grain starters going and seem happy with the results, so it may not be a huge concern.
In reality it's important just to have fun with it. Whether you do things 90% right, 95% or 100%, getting results you are happy with is what matters.
While fresh grown flour may supply a better flock of wee beasities , it may not be the reason the starter took off again may not at all e because the fresh ground flour was reintroduced. Most all starters go through a series of events. On day 4-5 the starter will look dead. He bad wee beasties who are not acclimated to a lower pH environment are being replaced with the much weaker LAB and yeast that are suited to live together in an acid environment. Once the good wee beasties multiply and get stronger in numbers they will make the culture appear to be much more active no matter what they are fed on day 6 or so. So, the change in activity was more likely due to the way these cultures normally do their thing as the acid environment kills off the bad and allows the good to come forth rather than the fresh milled flour that seemed to cause the resurrection. Happy baking .