The flour you feed your starter might matter more than you think

Scientists Finally Explain Why Your Sourdough Never Tastes the Same Twice

https://www.foodandwine.com/how-flour-in-sourdough-starter-affects-flavor-study-11898177

To clarify: it looks like they took three flours (AP, BF, WW) and made starters from them, kept feeding them the same flours for a while and then analysed the microbes. The bacteria especially were fairly different, but the yeasts were similar.

At first I thought maybe they took one established starter and split it into three and fed it different flours from then on, but that's not the case.

Anyway I think it's worth a read and you can access the original paper - for once it's not behind a paywall. It does show that flour is the most important factor in starters; I always try and feed mine the same mixture every time.

I believe the "Bakers' Hands" theory is rather discredited these days.

Lance

the headline Food and Wine concocted strikes me as a little odd: 'Scientists Finally Explain Why Your Sourdough Never Tastes the Same Twice.' I mean, philosophically, it's the old Heraclitus axiom: 'you can't step into the same river twice.' Not just because a river flows, but because experience changes and time changes and the water changes and everything around you changes and you change, too.

I mean do they really think we're all out here feeding our starters random flours?

Rob

It would have been more interesting if they had gone back and made a set of new starters with the same flours. Then they could test to see if the starters made with the same flour had the same bacterial mix. The way it is, any differences could have been from making three separate starters, and not from the different flours.

TomP

Well, as far as I can tell, they did make each of the three starter types in triplicate.

What I am surprised about is that they used bleached AP. Benzoyl peroxide or chlorine is used as the bleaching agent, and both have anti-microbial activity, so not at all desirable if you are trying to make a starter!

Lance

Interesting article. I can envision several other experiments that would also be interesting:

Repeat the experimental conditions with different lots of Gold Medal flour to look for lot-to-lot variability.
Repeat the experimental conditions with equivalent flours from another miller.
Feed an AP flour starter with whole wheat flour and see if it converts to the WW biome. This could also be done with other flour combinations.
Repeat with rye flours.
I would have liked to seen what happens with once-a-week feeding with refrigerator storage; this may be a common regimen for may SD users.

Of course, those are a lot of experiments! I realize that these questions will likely not be answered.

Agree - especially your point 5 - of great interest to amateur bakers. I would add to run such an experiment with stiff starter at 50% hydrn and liquid at 100%. Stiff is supposedly more protective of low temps and longer unrefreshed periods.

Lance

i started using store brand WW flour for feeding the mother I keep in the fridge. It's more lively than the high gluten white flour. it also accepts neglect better.