As part of a virtual help session to assist a fellow who'd had trouble
starting up his own starter, I've been starting up some starters on my own.
As a lark, I decided to try three different grains: whole rye, whole spelt
and whole wheat.

They've all started up just fine. My question:

Are there any significant difference in the type of bacteria and yeasts that
one finds in starters begun with different grains? Does, say, a starter
begun with whole rye flour have a different critter composition than whole
wheat?

Obviously, I know that you can convert, for example, taking a rye starter
and feeding it with whole wheat. But since it seems that the yeasts, at
least, originate on the grains themselves, I'm curious as to whether
different yeasts specialize in feeding off specific grains and, if so,
whether this translates into any noticable changes in the bread itself.

Or are they all basically the same?

Anyone know?

--
Jeff

On May 25, 8:38 am, "Jeff Miller" wrote:

Are there any significant difference in the type of bacteria and yeasts that
one finds in starters begun with different grains? Does, say, a starter
begun with whole rye flour have a different critter composition than whole
wheat?

Roy Basan posted a link a couple of years ago. It was a technical
paper covering the different microbial populations in a number of
flour sources along the northern Mediterranean. Seemed to me that
every food-shed had it's own critters. It also seemed to me that the
critters were, for the most part, slight variants of one another. So I
suppose the answer is: How different are the source flours?

If your rye and your wheat come from the same county in Minnesota...
I'm guessing the critters are quite similar. If your rye comes from
Poland and your wheat from South Dakota... your critters have more
variance.

Here is the RFS thread... Roy Basin, Sept 9 2004:

http://tinyurl.com/3cmngm

On a practical level... it seems to me the major variables are storage
environment and refreshment cycle... since the critters ultimately
self-select based on a slew of variables like hydration, temperature,
buffering material, availability of nutrients, etc...

I've been very happy keeping very firm starter at room or cellar
temperatures. You might try that and see whether you feel it is
different from the wet stuff typically stored in the refrigerator....
Which is to say, I believe starter management is more determinant than
origin.

Will