Hi there! The biggest difference with feeding your starter whole wheat flour vs. all-purpose is that you should expect it to ripen faster (and start to smell sour and tangy more quickly). This is normal. If you continue feeding the starter with whole wheat flour, you'll find it ripens quickly unless you put it someplace cool to slow down that fermentation; such as the fridge. If you don't keep up with a whole wheat starter, then it can become over-ripe faster than you might like. As for baking with it, you can still use your whole wheat starter the same way you have been without adjusting the flour or water in the rest of the recipe; 1 cup weighs roughly 227 grams. We wouldn't recommend using whole wheat pastry flour to maintain a sourdough starter though. Enjoy!
April 7, 2020 at 2:25pm
In reply to Hello! Can I just keep… by Deep Fried Pickles (not verified)
Hi there! The biggest difference with feeding your starter whole wheat flour vs. all-purpose is that you should expect it to ripen faster (and start to smell sour and tangy more quickly). This is normal. If you continue feeding the starter with whole wheat flour, you'll find it ripens quickly unless you put it someplace cool to slow down that fermentation; such as the fridge. If you don't keep up with a whole wheat starter, then it can become over-ripe faster than you might like. As for baking with it, you can still use your whole wheat starter the same way you have been without adjusting the flour or water in the rest of the recipe; 1 cup weighs roughly 227 grams. We wouldn't recommend using whole wheat pastry flour to maintain a sourdough starter though. Enjoy!