Day 33 out of 40

I can’t remember my mom or dad making loaves of bread. There were lots of homemade breads in our table, they just had different shapes. There were tapiocas ( flat breads made with yuca starch) and slices of cuscuz and broas made of cornmeal and breakfast cakes and biscuits of all kinds. But we bought “Pão Francês” for breakfast (Brazilian bread rolls) and “Pão de Forma” loaves for grilled ham sandwiches “misto-quente” (“hot mix” in literal translation).

When I married a person who’s bread had different shapes, grains, stories and expressions, I was so excited to embrace them. I felt in love with the process of making boules and loaves.

Everyday we have a chance to write our own bread story. When I stop by the second hand store and find a new loaf pan I wonder if my kids will talk about our long bricks of seeded rye bread. Will they remember the jars of starter that have been part of their whole lives tucked in the fridge, displayed in window seals, and traveled in our suitcases on vacation?

I don’t keep a rye sourdough starter, instead, I take a little scraping  of my wheat starter, feed it rye flour and water. I may keep that going for a few weeks but I know I can always restart the process from my original sourdough mother.  

We can adopt, make up and start traditions of our own at any time, and they will be ours, like the culture will make a home in the rye flour as it did in in the wheat.

How to create Rye Sourdough Starter from Wheat starter

Take a scrapping from your wheat starter and feed it some rye flour and water to create a paste. Or you can feed by weight according to your recipes and baking routine. If you wish to keep a rye starter, keep feeding it rye flour. I always keep my original mother fed whole wheat as well.

Within a few feedings, the starter should be converted to the new flour and it will become rye sourdough starter. Monitor to see that is happy, with bubble and about double and it is ready to use.