Loosely related: my new hobby project is growing and nuturing sourdough that's optimized for gluten free bread, and I'm cultivating a couple of different kinds to find out which taste I like the most.
It kind of escalated a bit once I realized that different mixtures of bacteria cultures produce differently tasting dough/bread and that you can strengthen the grow rate by optimizing the external variables.
Currently I have kind of two main starters where I am experimenting with:
One starter uses the same schaer flour (which is based on a corn, rice and lentil mix). This one grows veeery slowly and needs lots of maintenance. But I want to keep it because that is the flour that also guests with celiac disease can eat. I'm trying to keep this one as clean as possible, same glass, same spoon, separate baking equipment etc.
The second starter is based on spelt flour. That one grows pretty easily, I used some turkish culture for it, and it's the survivor of the previous experiment :D
For both of them the grow rate is off. The first one grows around 1/5th until it needs more flour and water, the second one grows around 1/3rd until it needs maintenance. The standardized maintenance for wheat flour is 2x growth so you always have to fill the glass half way and then mark it with a rubber band.
It kind of escalated a bit once I realized that different mixtures of bacteria cultures produce differently tasting dough/bread and that you can strengthen the grow rate by optimizing the external variables.