Sourdough starter with milk vs just using regular starter and adding milk separately?

How much of a difference would it make to the final product and which one would be the better choice for any enriched sourdough breads/pastries/cakes etc? And by "regular starter" I mean the normal flour and water mixture. Thanks!

Best Answer

If it can be done, it will make lots of difference. Different sourdough recipes are geared towards breeding different bacterial species, which give their own taste to the final product.

There is no answer to "what will be a better choice". If you have a known good recipe for a starter using milk, then it is up to the eater to decide which result tastes better to them. It's literally a matter of taste.

Note that, if you just thought to pour some milk and flour together, this is a terrible idea. Fermented foods are only safe when following the recipe to the letter. A small change in the initial conditions can breed a completely different strain of bacteria - which can be simply yucky, but can also be seriously dangerous for your health. So if you don't have a trusted source which describes the exact way to produce a safe sourdough starter by using milk, don't experiment on your own.

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Can you add milk to sourdough starter?

Should You Add Milk to Sourdough Starter? No, milk should not be added to a sourdough starter. Sourdough starter needs only flour and water to colonise wild yeast.

Should I separate sourdough starter?

After three to five days, your starter should resemble a foamy, thick pancake batter, and it should smell yeasty and slightly sour. Starters will sometimes separate into a clear liquid and a denser layer of flour. This is fine - just stir it together before using.

Can I split my sourdough starter?

You can either split your starter into a new jar for your friend and feed both as normal ( about 100g of starter and 100g each of water and flour) or spilt some off and give them the discard to feed up. Generally, you don't need more than about 50g of starter to pass on to really get a new starter going.

Should you add sugar to your sourdough starter?

Should You Add Sugar to Your Sourdough Starter? Short answer - no! You don't need to add an additional food source to your sourdough starter. Flour and water are truly all you need.

Make Sourdough Starter With Milk Kefir| Shorter Time Compare Traditional Water Flour Method

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Jill Wellington, Sebastian Coman Photography, EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA, EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA