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Tried making sourdough with cheap bread flour and wasted 3 weeks of starter
I used a budget store brand instead of a quality bread flour and my starter never rose properly after 3 weeks of feeding. Cost me maybe $4 in flour but also a good 20 hours of watching it do nothing, anyone else find cheap flour messes up fermentation?
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rileygarcia1mo agoMost Upvoted
Wait, are you sure it was the flour and not something else? Cheap flour can work fine if you adjust the hydration a bit since it absorbs water differently. I've used store brand before and my starter was fine, just took an extra day or two to get active. Could be your water had chlorine or the kitchen was too cold. Try bottled spring water and see if that helps before you blame the flour entirely.
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the_drew1mo ago
You said "cheap flour can work fine if you adjust the hydration" and that's kinda the key right there. I read somewhere that a lot of those budget flours have lower protein content, so they just can't hold as much water without getting soupy. @rileygarcia you're right that it's not always the flour's fault, but for a newbie trying to follow a recipe exactly, that extra guesswork can mess things up. I've had good luck with cheap flour too, but only after I learned to eyeball the consistency instead of measuring by cups. That water temp thing you mentioned is huge as well, cold tap water in winter can shock the yeast into hibernation. I'd still say if someone's starter is totally dead after a week, the flour might be part of the problem alongside the other stuff.
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