A bit more than a week ago I decided to make a new starter from scratch after the rye version of my Ingrid went down the drain and I forgot to keep something to feed. It was sad for a minute, but I’ll get her back from someone I shared her with soon and I also had her still as a wheat version so I created a rye version of that in the meantime. You can also always just make a new starter. I often read that people have hundred years old starters and say they get better with age and while there might be some truth to it in terms of stability and taste, you can also make awesome bread with a very young starter. It’s also fun to make a new starter every once in a while! This time I decided to make a whole rye starter from scratch that will stay whole rye indefinitely. I used my spoon method as I find this simple and less fuzzy. I literally just feed one table spoon of my starter mix with a table spoon water and flour every day and a week later I got an active starter. This bread was made with this new starter on day 7 of its existence and it’s a soft, open and tasty as they come and I can’t see or taste any difference to any of the breads I made with my 4 year old Ingrid. The formula for this bread was: 80% bread flour/AP flour 20% brown bread flour (or whole wheat) 85% water (use 75-80% if your flour has less than 11.5% protein) 20% whole rye levain 2% salt (I used salt flakes with activated charcoal that created this grey-ish dough colour) Schedule Mix 80% water and levain and add the flour. Mix until fully combined. 30min later add salt and remaining water and mix until fully combined. Let rest for 30-60min. Do a fold every 30-60min, about 3-4 in total. I usually do one half or full fold 30min before final shaping as the pre shaping when I only make one loaf. Line the banneton with your flour or seeds of choice, final shape at the 4-5h mark and put in the fridge overnight. Baked straight out of the fridge on a preheated baking steel (260°C) 18min with steam and 18min without at 230°C. Rest at least 30min before cutting to prevent the crumb from being sticky and the loaf losing moisture. #sourdough #ryestarter #activatedcharcoal #bread #levain