Hi everyone, as some of you have read I'm a beginner and making my own starter at home. For pictures and info on that topic, here's the link: http://weightloss-slim.fit/node/37150/elusive-sourdough-starter %3C/a%3E;%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3ESo today we went grocery shopping, and dropped by the nearest company that sells basically everything you could ever dream of for baking (especially sweets, cakes, etc. but also breads) by bulk. It's called "bulk barn". I went straight to the flour isle and saw two top contenders for purchase to either add to or begin a brand new starter. The first, and obvious choice was the dark rye flour. The second option, which I also picked up some of, was called "San Francisco style sourdough bread machine flour" (the San Francisco part was on the main container at the store). To help with all the potential questions that might be asked by the reader to really identify what this is, I took a picture that will help:
It is definitely a pre-mixed bread machine mix. If you are trying to make your own wholesome bread, you don't need this and I would stay away from it. You can't make real sourdough from a mix and as you can read there are plenty of additives that are completely unnecessary to make good bread. If you are making your own starter, all you need is some flour, water, salt and your starter and you are good to go.
Cheater's fake sourdough mix would be a good description, lol.
No, you wouldn't want to use it in a starter. It's a mix containing flour, not a flour per se.
If you've already bought it and don't have a bread machine, you can still make bread with it following the directions re: water and yeast amounts. Just mix and knead by hand, give it two or three rises between punch downs and bake in the oven.
I'm sure I'll just keep it around to use when we have guests over so I can produce some fast sourdough garlic bread or something. :)
I would say do not use that pre-mix when building your starter's yeast colony and LAB levels. There are a lot of chemicals in that pre-mix most likely designed to give an artificial "sour" and others that are likely binders and preservatives. All of these chemicals may have a detrimental effect on the health of your starter. I struggled with my starter for about 2 years trying different feeding schedules but what I have found that worked for me was to feed your mother twice a day and maintain a tiny mother to minimize your loss with each feeding. Hope this helps and good luck.