The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

What do you feed your starter?

dannydannnn's picture
dannydannnn

What do you feed your starter?

Apologies, I'm like 99.9% certain this question has come up here before. I'm just overwhelmed by the number of variations, and I'm more of the "stick with one good thing" type of person. From what I can tell, most professionals recommend a combination of rye / white flour. What do you use?

Also, for the white flour portion, between bread flour and all purpose, which is preferable for an amateur baker?

riveagle's picture
riveagle

I use 1:1 whole wheat or white whole wheat and rye.  I feed 2 T. flour to 2 T. water.  If I am not pumping it up for bread, I just feed, let it sit out for an hour or two and stick it covered into the fridge.  It is nice to take it out every week and discard 1/2, then feed it, but I have let it sit in the fridge for much more than a week and it perks right up, still.

jcope's picture
jcope

I mix rye and all purpose.  Bread flour isn’t superior to all purpose when it comes to feeding the starter.  It may be true that using rye or other whole grain flours can lead to less predictable starter behavior.  Using them has the benefit that the bread has more sour flavor.

Benito's picture
Benito

I feed my starter whole red fife and it seems happy with that.

Benny