Paul wrote:
>
> I have to put my starters> in the fridge for a week to 10 days at a time sometimes. >My wheat starter deals with that kind of rest period without a hitch. Would a rye >starter be able to endure periods of long neglect?
>

Yes, in a word. You should bring your stored starter back to
baking status by taking a small amount of the stored start and
grow it to the quanity needed by tripleing or more each stage of
feeding. I use 1/2 teaspoon of stored start to one tablespoon of
flour for the first stage. Then 1/4 cup and then to the amount
needed for the baking starter. You do not need to store a large
amount and if you store it as a thick paste, you can extend the
safe storage time.

> I can understand why a rye starter might get off to a faster start, but it's
> unclear to me why I cannot convert a wheat starter to rye. Same flora,
> right?

If you are a regular baker of rye, it just makes sense to keep a
rye starter. Although Samartha doesn't think much of the idea, I
have had sucess converting white wheat starter to rye when I want
to make rye bread. I take 1/2 tsp of starter and feed with 1Tbl
rye, then 1/4 cup rye, then 1/2 cup rye. If it is not perking
along with vigor, at that stage, I discard all but 1/4 cup and
feed that with 1/2 cup of rye and go from there. For me, an
occaisional rye baker, I find that it saves time over making a
new rye sour everytime I want to make a mostly rye bread and I
don't have to worry about some nasty looking lump in the back of
the refrigerator that may have once been starter.

Regards,

Charles

--
Charles Perry
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