Baking With a Rye Alaskan Goldrush Sourdough Starter

For some time now, I have wanted to make rye bread, but that means converting my sourdough starter from a wheat starter to a rye starter. Luckily, my brother returned from an Alaskan cruise with this gift. He knows I bake artisan bread and has received several of my #SourdoughSaturday trial loaves (maybe he wants more). 

So rather than toss this into my collection of dried starters I have been keeping in food storage, I decided to make it a rye starter. My curiosity has been driving me to find out if it tastes any different from my Abigail’s Oven starter (by the way, Abigail's Oven carries its own dehydrated starters you can order here).

But if I activated this, I knew I would soon be caring for “twins.” By caring, I mean feeding, watching over, using, and storing two unique starters. I hope to be up to it—the instructions in the envelope suggested I combine

• 2 cups of flour
• 2 cups of water
• dry culture starter

Their instructions also explained:

“Use a wooden or plastic spoon to stir the mixture until smooth; metal spoons may interact with your starter, and not in a good way. Cover the container with plastic wrap and a towel and place in a warm area for 36 to 48 hours. Gently stir several times a day.  Your starter should give a slightly yeasty aroma. Cover your container (after two days) and let it rest in the refrigerator. To use your starter, simply remove the amount called for in the recipe and add to the other ingredients.”

When things remained quiet after 72 hours, I fell back on Martha Levie's training from her free class and stirred in 1/3 cup whole-wheat flour and 1/4 cup water. Wow—that jar overflowed in no time! (Freshly ground whole grain really gives a sluggish starter a powerful boost, just like Martha promised.)

I keep active starters in separate Ball Pour & Measure capped wide-mouth quart jars and store them in the fridge and back-ups in the freezer.

Happily, since then, I have just added rye flour and have a good starter going now, and I will be making rye bread known as German Graubrot (or Mischbrot), a caraway-free grey rye bread made by combining rye and whole-wheat flours. You can find the full step-by-step instructions and ingredients on the German Rye Bread (Graubrot, Mischbrot) Recipe page.

You may also enjoy making rye pancakes using this recipe: https://tinandthyme.uk/2024/02/rye-sourdough-pancakes/

Conclusion

That little envelope stated:

I have succeeded with both Mischbrot and Marbled Rye, and now I am the proud owner of both a San Francisco and Yukon Sourdough starter.  Personally, I cannot tell a taste difference. Let us know how you make Roggenbrot, Graubrot, Mischbrot, or anything else you call rye bread.