“Can I feed my sourdough starter different flours? If so, how often?” Pam F. asks on today’s #AskWardee. I’m sharing my answer below!
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The Question
Pam F. wants to know:
Do you always have to feed the same kind of flour each day such as wheat, spelt, etc.? Or can you change that daily or weekly? I noticed that you said you could bake with any kind of flour. but can you feed it with different kinds of flour? We grow our own grains so I am wondering how to change flours when you need to in the starter and how often you can change it when added to the starter?
My Answer
Yes, you can feed your sourdough starter different flours.
The sourdough starter’s organisms are looking for a food source, and that is starch. Starch is in all the grains, so any will do. Our friend Katie from Kitchen Stewardship even feeds her starter with leftover oatmeal. That’s frugal!
There are some things to keep in mind:
1. How Is Your Starter Handling It?
When I have changed flours (wheat to spelt to einkorn), the starter took to it right away. Others report that their starter took it hard. 😉 And then took a few feedings to bounce back.
What are the best flours for sourdough? Any flour with starch should be suitable, but some may work better than others.
2. Don’t Neglect The Starter When Changing Flours.
Keep it warm and keep feeding it regularly.
Why?
IF the starter is going to be shocked by the new flour, you don’t want it to be stressed in any other way.
3. Change Flour As Often As Needed, Or As Often As Your Starter Can Handle It.
There are no rules other than:
- Your needs and desires — what flour do you have on hand?
- The starter’s needs — what experience has it shown you it can handle?
4. Also…
Although it might go without saying, I’m going to say it anyway.
Because you can feed your sourdough starter with whatever flour you’d like, this also means it might be different from the flour in the recipe. And that’s fine — yes, you can feed your starter with a different flour than you use in the recipe.
(However, if you’re gluten-free, you’d want to stick to gluten-free flours for feeding and for the recipe.)
For more information about feeding your starter, check out Feeding Your Starter…More Than Just Flour!
Helpful Links:
- Free Sourdough Starter Video and Instructions
- Free No-Knead Sourdough Bread Instructions
- Is Aged Flour *Really* Better For Sourdough? #AskWardee 122
- When is a Sourdough Starter Ready for Baking?
- How To Freeze Your Sourdough Starter {Best Way} #AskWardee 059
- Can I Use Reverse Osmosis Water For Fermenting, Culturing, & Sourdough? #AskWardee 138
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I share tips and resources, plus answer your questions about Traditional Cooking!
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Where: @TradCookSchool on Periscope or Traditional Cooking School on Facebook
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Do you ever switch flours with your sourdough starter? How does your starter handle it?
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Hi warden have a question on eating black beans can you have them when having a thm s meal like a fourth a cup
Hi Katie,
I verified with Dawn and she said you can have up to 1/4 c in an S meal but that’s your only carb source for the meal.
~ Vicki, TCS Customer Success Team
Can you feed ypur starter with multiple flours: 15g rye, 15g white ww and 20g ap flour?
Hi, :D,
If you are mixing flours you will want to keep an eye on your starter and see how it is handling it. 🙂
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
HI! In the sourdough starter instructions, the measurements are given for the flour and water needed to feed the starter. Can you provide the weight instead of measurements? Thanks!
Hi, Vic,
I am sorry but we don’t use weights. We are aiming for a thicker starter but our recipes and methods are not dependent on being so exact. We go by feel. 🙂
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
Hello! I am Peruvian American and so we love quinua, amaranth and kañihua flour (none of these grains contain gluten) so my question is if I could mix those up with my sourdough starter.
Thank you!!!
Hi, Claudia.
Since those are gluten-free flours you would want to create a gluten-free starter and use those. Feeding gluten-free grains toa a gluten starter is not advisable.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team