Since I had no luck getting a normal sourdough starter going, I figured a little experiment to test the rye flour might be worthwhile. What better way to test it than to make a rye sourdough starter? A rye starter is much more sour than your typical white flour starter, and very active. The flavor is a tangy sour one and the odor is very strong. Almost as strong as smelling salts.
Start by mixing together 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 cup of rye flour in a non-reactive bowl. Glass, pyrex, ceramic, even plastic will do. I’ve used Hodgsen Mills Rye with good results, the fact that it’s readily available round these parts is a nice bonus. If this brand isn’t available, then the flour should be a finely ground version, as opposed to a pumpernickel, which is a very coarse grind. Bob’s Red Mill makes good flour as well.
Anyway, cover it up with plastic wrap and let the concoction set for 24 hours. It is OK to stir is once or twice during this period to stimulate the yeast. When you uncover it, there should be the beginnings of a sour smell. It will likely have risen a little as well.
Mix another 1/4 cup of water into the mixture until smooth, then mix in a 1/2 cup of rye. Cover and let set for 24 hours. Again, it is OK to stir it once or twice during this time. The starter should be much more active with a stronger odor and the beginnings of a sour taste. It will also have risen quite a bit- possibly doubling.
Once again, mix in 1/4 cup of water, add 1/2 cup of rye flour then cover and set aside. At the end of this time, the starter will have doubled. It will be bubbly and have a strong sour smell. If you taste it, your tongue will tingle from the acid. At this point, the starter is basically ready.
As a final step, add 1/4 cup of water and 1/2 cup of flour. After about 12 hours, the starter should have doubled. You can now put it in the fridge for safe keeping until it’s time to bake.
4 replies on “Rye Sourdough Starter”
Hi,
found your recipe on google. I don’t know if you call this cheating but I used water kefir grains to start the sough dough. It smells good, kefir grains are pretty much what you want the sough dough to get but already alive and kicking, and in a healthy balance.
I’d never heard of “water kefir grains” prior to this post. I’ve already googled them a little. I certainly wouldn’t call it cheating- as you noted it’s already got a balance of bacteria. It seems to me that you’d have a different flavored starter. Is it a real active starter? What does it taste like?
It double on the first lot of flour and water. It tastes quite strong, first time I made soughdough and the bread itself was too strong..although I think by the time it had been in the oven it had probably been fermenting too long.
As for the smell of the starter, at first very fruity then after 1.5 days it was getting pungent…never rotten though. I’m going to try it again with the remaining, but act alot quicker i think as the proofing time seems very short.
My understanding is as long as the starter can double itself, you’re good to go.
If the starter is too strong flavor wise, if you take a small sample of it and refresh it and then use that in your recipe you can control the flavor more.
Good luck with it. If you have a recipe, let me know I’d be curious to check it out.