Made sourdough with my own starter for 6 months and it came out like a brick every time until I tried feeding it rye flour instead of white

I've been trying to get a decent loaf since January and kept ending up with these dense hockey pucks. My neighbor who bakes professionally said my starter was probably weak from using plain AP flour. I switched to feeding it dark rye for about two weeks and the difference was crazy - it doubled in size in like 4 hours instead of 8. Finally got a loaf with actual air pockets last Sunday. Has anyone else found that changing what you feed the starter makes that big of a difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey39317d ago

You had a buddy who baked with rye too? My friend Mike tried that after his loaves kept coming out like doorstops. Swore by it after a week, said his starter turned into a monster.

blake_black4717d ago

His starter turned into a monster" - that's exactly what happened to my buddy Dave, @casey393. He switched to rye and his starter got so active it actually pushed the lid off his jar overnight, crusty mess everywhere.