Rant: My sourdough starter is a different beast now than it was in 2021

Honestly, back in 2021 during that big lockdown in Portland, my starter was so weak it made flat, dense bricks. Last week, after feeding it rye flour for a month, it finally gave me a perfect, airy crumb. Has anyone else's starter personality completely changed over the years?

3 comments

3 Comments

anthonyhunt3mo ago

But what if it's just the flour change and not some big yeast takeover?

angelas783mo ago

Oh man, the "starter personality" thing is so real. I read this whole article about how the wild yeast in your house air basically moves in and takes over your starter after a while. So that 2021 version probably had totally different local microbes than what's in there now, especially if you changed up the flour.

walker.hayden1mo ago

The wild yeast takeover thing cracks me up because I bet my starter has changed personalities like twelve times and I just didn't notice. I'm over here thinking I'm some master sourdough baker when really my starter has been swapping out microbes behind my back like a teenager changing moods. Probably threw a whole party in 2022 while I was off eating store bread for a month. My kitchen air is just a revolving door of wild yeast at this point and I'm the last to know.