In short: The bacteria make the acid/sourness, the yeast makes the bubbles
This little clip shows an 8 hour time laps in 45 seconds, so you can see what happens with the culture during this time.
See how it lives, grows and reacts during that period. It’s not something to get overly exited about, but this way you’ll get an idea of what is supposed to happen with your culture.
Check out our posting on making and maintaining your own Rye Sourdough Culture in easy steps.
Small video clip timelapse of rise of rye sourdough starter
J Barber says
Thanks so much – very interesting! I have now converted my white flour starter to rye. Am I right that with rye I can get away with less feeding as it’s less fussy. With wholemeal wheat it is more fussy. And white flour is the fussiest of the three and needs the most frequent feeding?
I am also looking to take your advice and store the starter in the fridge so it needs less feeding. I was wondering in this case would I still need to put the lid on loosely so that some small amount of air can get in or is it OK to close the lid tightly?
Thanks again.
Weekend Bakers says
Hello J,
Yes, that is about correct. White flour generally needs the most attention and you get ‘slush’ on top.
And yes you can still put the lid on loosely, also in the fridge.
We hope you will like using the rye starter as much a we do and your results will be excellent!
Kimberly Peterman says
I am so so happy!!! I followed your rye starter steps . I made sure I washed a sterilized everything.Then I put my little baby in the cupboard above my stove all snug. The next day day 2 , after I fed it, stirred, and re- snugged it, I went shopping and came home, and my baby doubled, and bubbled!!!!! Thank YOU so much!!! This is my first time ever making a starter this way!!! I have made a sour dough starter from yeast ( commercial) but I doubted i had it in me to venture into scary wild natural yeast land . But thanks to you i have a rye bubble party in my kitchen!!!
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Kimberly, so happy to hear the good news. Wishing you many happy baking hours and lots of lovely sourdough loaves!
Turkan Nakipoglu says
Hello,
Today is 3rd day of my rye sourdough starter and it has been going to well,I think. The mixture did double in size during the last 24 hours (end of the 2nd day before refreshing) and there has been little air bubbles since 1st day. But, by mistake, I followed the 2nd day’s steps again instead of the 3rd day’s recipe. I didn’t throw away two third of the mixture, I just added 20g wholemeal rye flour and 20 ml water and stirred 30 seconds. I wonder how this will affect my starter? Should I start from the scratch?
Thank you very much for your help, advices and recipes.
Turkan
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Turkan,
Hope you continued with the process after day three, it would be no problem we think!
Christa Eenkooren says
Hello. Thanks for your great site. I find the starter thing a bit confusing. I read that I need to throw away 1/3 of the starter every time I refresh it when making it for the first week or two. Somewhere else I read that one could put that discarded starter in the fridge and use it for baking once it accumulates enough. My question is: Can I use that starter in the fridge or do I just throw it away while the one on the counter is getting refreshed 2/day. I have read and re-read your instructions but I can’t seem to get a handle on this one. Thanks so much!
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Christa,
Because of the small amounts we use , we never keep it, but you could use it if you want it. But be careful, as with all food, it does not have an unlimited ‘shelf’ life so make sure these accumulated ‘leftovers’ are safe to use.
Dvorah says
I love your website. Awesome recipes. Great explanations. Thank you
This is was my first experience with sourdough and let me tell you it was great. I always was a little afraid to try it but with your easy steps I gave it a try
The first 3 days raised a little bit and I was happy, I didn’t have high expectations because was my first time. I set the jar inside my oven ( it was off ) I live in Cakifornia a the temperature outside was 40 C Inside the AC was runing
I read a comment that took her a few more days and keep my spirit up. On day number five OMG duplicate the size and more. It was great. How happened ? Well we went out for the day , the AC was off and the jar was on the counter top …Tomorrow I will try to start the bread.
It’s a wonderful experience to grow and have my own starter It takes the art to make bread to a different level
Thank you
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Dvorah, for your wonderful description and a long and healthy live for your starter with many tasty loaves!
Durriya Iyer says
Hi. This is durriya from Mumbai, India. Rye flour is not readily available in India. How different would b d flavour if I made a sourdough starter with white bread flour. We’d appreciate yr response.
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Durriya,
Yes, It is also possible to make a sourdough starter with wheat flour / bread flour. You have the most chance of success if the flour is organic because in this flour the natural yeasts are already present to get a healthy and active culture. Refined, bleached etc. factory flour will not very likely ‘spring into action’ for you. If you do not succeed you can also use fruit like grapes (yeast on the skin of the fruit) to get a culture started. You can find info on the internet on how to make a culture with the aid of fruit.
Hope this helps.
Bill in UK says
Marieke, I am quite tempted by the rye starter, mine is white flour and works fine but needs a certain amount of looking after, although in general I think a mature starter is a lot more robust than a lot of people wiould have us believe. Do you keep yours in the fridge when not baking? How many times do you feed it out of the fridge before using it?
Have pssed you website on to a few fellow bakers who all like it as much as I do.
Bill
Weekend Bakers says
Yes we do Bill. This is Ed’s regime at the moment: He feeds it after using, leaves it at room temp for a day, then puts it away in the fridge again. Next weekend, gets it out of the fridge again a few ours before using it in the poolish (usually on Friday, using 2/3 of it). Then feeding it again, leaving it till the next morning, about 12 hours in total before putting it back in the fridge till the next weekend.
He wants to update the posting shortly with this info, to tell in detail what he is doing starter wise at the moment and why.
Hope it makes sense!
Marieke
Marieke says
Yes, that was a hot sunny day in summer when we filmed it. Now it’s between 17 and 19 Celsius in the same room but the starter does not seem to mind. Of course it gets a bit slower at lower temperatures like 17.
J. says
Fascinating stuff, thanks for posting!
I thought 25 C would be almost too warm for a starter, but obviously it works well!