Hi Everybody,

Inspired by Samartha Deva's great Web Page http://samartha.net/SD/,
I've been baking my own sourdough rye bread for about six months
without a hitch. I was able to culture my own starter the very first
time I ever tried and was consumed by experimenting Sarmartha style.
One of the things I changed was the flour, mainly because of the
price, as it did not seem to affect the taste and result. Then one day
I had to go away for two months. I left my culture in a tightly closed
jar in refrigerator, but upon my return it appeared dead. Smelled
nice, like pure rye vodka and was all discolored. Of course,
encouraged by my original success, I immediately started a new
culture. Everything was identical to my original first (temperature
30C, amount of flour, water etc.) except the flour itself. After two
days it was all moldy and reeked of a paint remover. I removed the
mold, stirred in some more flour.... and the result was equally
disastrous no matter how long I waited.
Finally, in desperation, I turned to the original flour that I used
with immediate success the first time I tried.
Hosannah!!! I worked again for me, like charm after only approx. 12
hours in my cultivating box.
Apparently, not every flour is suitable, at least not for starting the
culture. However, once the starter is established, making sourdough
with different flours is not a problem.