Hi Angela, feeding your starter with part red wheat and part white wheat should work fine, although you may find that your whole wheat starter contributes a bit more sour flavor and not quite as vigorous a rise to your bread baking as compared to a starter maintained with AP flour. That's because wholegrains tend to promote more lactic acid bacteria (LAB), while AP flour generally leads to conditions that favor the wild yeast. This isn't written in stone, however, since lots of other factors affect the flavor and rise of your sourdough bread throughout the bread production process. I would be sure that your whole wheat starter is vigorous and healthy and is doubling in size predictably, and then try adding ripe starter to our Pain Au Levain recipe, which offers a stiff white flour levain to help boost the rise in your bread. I don't have much experience with milling my own flour, so I'm afraid I can't advise you on what type of wheat to use, other than hard red wheat is what we use for our AP flour. I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes.
May 11, 2020 at 11:29am
In reply to Have had difficulty getting… by Angela Morrow (not verified)
Hi Angela, feeding your starter with part red wheat and part white wheat should work fine, although you may find that your whole wheat starter contributes a bit more sour flavor and not quite as vigorous a rise to your bread baking as compared to a starter maintained with AP flour. That's because wholegrains tend to promote more lactic acid bacteria (LAB), while AP flour generally leads to conditions that favor the wild yeast. This isn't written in stone, however, since lots of other factors affect the flavor and rise of your sourdough bread throughout the bread production process. I would be sure that your whole wheat starter is vigorous and healthy and is doubling in size predictably, and then try adding ripe starter to our Pain Au Levain recipe, which offers a stiff white flour levain to help boost the rise in your bread. I don't have much experience with milling my own flour, so I'm afraid I can't advise you on what type of wheat to use, other than hard red wheat is what we use for our AP flour. I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes.
Barb