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Starting a Sourdough Starter with Rye and Whole Wheat

By ky

The starter is the one thing you cannot bake sourdough without. Raising the culture is the most important step, and probably the hardest. Fundamentally it is just flour, water, mixing and waiting — but it is generally reckoned easier with whole wheat or rye, which carry more minerals, than with bread flour alone.

→ The article on raising a starter with bread flour alone is here.

In outline

The chief appeal of sourdough is its simplicity. You mix flour and water and leave it. The starter is the same: mix flour and water, then once a day discard about half and feed it the same weight of flour and water. Doing this multiplies the yeasts and lactic acid bacteria in the starter while holding unwanted microbes back.

Points to watch

  • A room averaging around 24°C seems to give a starter the best chance.
  • When discarding the previous day's starter, discard the top half. The yeasts and lactic acid bacteria you want for sourdough seem to multiply mainly towards the bottom of the jar.
  • Stir it well. The bacteria that drive fermentation need oxygen too.
  • Early on the bubbles are small; as fermentation progresses you start to see bubbles of varying sizes.
  • Check the smell. It becomes acidic, like a nukadoko pickling bed, with something slightly fruity about it.

If it is not working

  • Try somewhere a little warmer.
  • Use less of the previous day's starter, and less new flour and water.
  • Discard the previous day's starter, stir well, then wait two or three hours before adding the new flour and water.

Right — let's do this together.

Day 1 — Mix flour and water

What you need:

Conditions:
  • Date28 April 2020
  • Room temperature22℃
  • Humidity45%

Start by weighing out the rye flour, whole wheat and water and mixing them well. Rye absorbs water readily, so I use slightly more water. Note the appearance and the smell so you can track how they change. Then leave it for a day and wait.

Day 2 — Feed it flour and water

What you need:

Conditions:
  • Date29 April 2020
  • Room temperature20℃
  • Humidity46%

A sourdough starter works on the lactic acid bacteria and yeasts that arise by natural fermentation from flour and water — but a great many different microbes appear at once during that process. In the early stages, organisms that would eventually cause spoilage are living there too. Growing the starter over several days is how you cultivate mainly the yeasts and lactic acid bacteria that lift bread.

First, scoop off and discard 20g, mostly from the top of the starter left from the previous day. In my experience the yeasts and lactic acid bacteria that raise bread tend to appear towards the bottom of the jar, so discard the top and cultivate what remains below.

To the starter with its top removed, add whole wheat, rye flour and water and stir well. Stirring thoroughly, so oxygen reaches all of it, matters. There is still no change in appearance or smell. Leave it and wait for tomorrow.

Day 2, evening — Already rising

Conditions:
  • Date29 April 2020, 11:00 PM
  • Room temperature26℃
  • Humidity50%

I had meant to leave it until the next day, but about half a day after the midday feed there was a marked change. Glancing over at the starter while writing this up, I noticed it: many more fine bubbles, and nearly double the height.

It was sitting near an incandescent lamp that was on through the evening, so the temperature had presumably risen — up to around 26°C, with the microbes correspondingly busy. I gave it a smell: almost none of the acidity characteristic of a sourdough starter, and something more like water that had gone off. Spoilage organisms are probably multiplying alongside everything else. But I am not going to worry about it. Before long the lactic acid bacteria will increase, the acidity will rise, and the spoilage organisms should fall away.

For now, stir it well so oxygen reaches all of it, and wait for tomorrow.

Day 3 — An unexpected rise

Sourdough starter (rye and whole wheat)
Sourdough starter (rye and whole wheat)

What you need:

Conditions:
  • Date30 April 2020
  • Room temperature22℃
  • Humidity51%

I was surprised by how much it had risen last night, and more surprised again on waking. Stirring a risen starter collapses the bubbles and reduces the volume — and since I had stirred it the previous evening, I had not expected anything like this.

My plan had been to document a slow, difficult process of trial and error while the starter refused to come together. Instead it is going unexpectedly smoothly. Stirred, it shows a proper web of strands.

As yesterday, discard 20g from the top of the previous day's starter, add whole wheat, rye flour and water, and stir well. Then leave it at room temperature and wait for tomorrow.

Day 4 — The rise has vanished

What you need:

Conditions:
  • Date1 May 2020
  • Room temperature24℃
  • Humidity52%

Day four, and another surprise on waking: the starter that had risen so much yesterday has not risen at all. Looking at the surface, none of yesterday's many bubbles. Give it a smell, though, and it has turned somewhat sour. Let me think about why this might have happened.

Yesterday the smell was not especially sour — more like water going off. Which suggests that although the starter had risen a great deal, spoilage organisms had probably multiplied alongside the yeasts and were producing the gas that lifted it. Today it smells as though lactic acid bacteria have increased, so my guess is that they have now grown strong enough to knock the yeasts back too, and the rise has gone with them. Not straightforward, is it.

Today I discarded 30g of the previous day's starter and added 10g each of whole wheat and rye flour, plus 21cc of water. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Day 5 — The rise is back

What you need:

Conditions:
  • Date2 May 2020
  • Room temperature26℃
  • Humidity54%

Day five. The starter that had deflated completely yesterday has risen properly today. The smell is firmly acidic, with a faint fragrance to it — something like bread. And the spoiled-water smell from the early days has gone entirely. A room at around 26°C is presumably good for the yeasts.

Today I discarded 40g of the previous day's starter and added 10g each of whole wheat and rye flour, plus 21cc of water. I think we can call this nearly ready for baking, but let's repeat the same routine for another day or two.

Finished

Sourdough starter (rye and whole wheat)
Sourdough starter (rye and whole wheat)
Sourdough starter (rye and whole wheat)

As you can see in the photographs, bubbles of many different sizes have appeared throughout the starter. It now roughly doubles about three hours after feeding. At this point you can bake with it.

If you are not baking straight away, put the lid on and keep it in the fridge. On the evening before you bake, discard a little of the starter, feed it flour and water, and leave it at room temperature. If you are not baking for a while, discard a little and feed it flour and water about once a week, keeping it in the fridge.

I hope you enjoy a life with sourdough in it. If something is not working, or there is anything you are unsure about, I would be glad to hear from you in the comments or via the contact page.

* References

This article explains how to look after a starter once you have raised it.

Feeding and Maintaining a Sourdough Starter

And now, use your finished starter to bake an actual loaf of sourdough.

Sourdough bread with rye and whole wheat

Here are the tools and ingredients I use day to day, in case they are useful.

Tools and ingredients for sourdough

Related

Sourdough Starter