These are some of the true stars of this show. Wild-Cultivated sourdough starters from my own kitchen in three different varieties – bread, whole wheat, and rye.

All of them are 100% hydration (equal weights flour and water). I feed my sourdough starters about once a week these days. They live in the fridge most of the time since I do not bake daily.

the Bread Flour

The bread flour sourdough starter is generally the best behaved. In the photo, it’s the one in the middle. Since it has high gluten, it tends to stick to itself well and stay somewhat stringy. When feeding, this is the one I usually start with because that cohesive nature makes it easy to get out of the slag bowl later, even with other stuff on top of it. It gets only unbleached bread flour.

This starter is what I use for most breads that call for either just bread or all purpose flour. I try to keep around 400 – 450 grams on hand.

the Whole Wheat

The whole wheat sourdough starter (on the right in the photo) is a hungry hungry hippo. It would gladly be fed every other day even living in the fridge. It’s the first to form hooch every week and yet somehow the last to rise to its fullest height. It’s a strange beast. The whole wheat starter is a bit more runny when fed and surprisingly smooth. This is also around 400 – 450 grams after feeding.

This starter is what I use for whole wheat breads and often with sweeter whole grain breads (like those mixed with cinnamon or fruit).

the Rye

My rye sourdough starter is kept a bit smaller than the others. It’s the smallest jar in the picture and has the biggest flavor (and smell). Because I use a fairly coarse rye flour for feeding, this starter tends to be very sticky and clumpy. It also looks more porous than the others as it grows in its jar during the week, giving it a really fun window effect on the glass. This one is only 250 – 300 grams after feeding.

This starter is what I use for rye breads, pumpernickel, savory mixed breads, and others that can take some coarseness and a more sour flavor.

the Making of Sourdough Starters

These are pretty simply sourdough starters. They’re just flour and water, left out to gather wild yeast from the environment. I found this method on YouTube from ILoveCookingIreland and followed it with each of the flours described above.

Getting the starters started had a couple of false starts. In a later post, I’ll walk through my various learnings from this process.