I know that some of you are waiting for the “how to make quark and skyr”. I apologize for the delay, due to work hours I had an issue picking up (farm fresh and raw) milk. The post should come friday.

Last year, I had at least 7 different sourdoughs in my fridge at any given time. Most were fed just once a week, but it still took some time and a lot of care to make sure I used them all regularly so they kept in shape. I’ve downsized considerably since then, and I’m baking mostly with Luigi, my lievito madre and Victoria, my potato yeast.

I’ve been having rye and ancient grains cravings lately, and I prefer sourdough for them to keep the enzymes under control. So Victoria is of no help, and using the lievito madre doesn’t really make sense taste wise. While I could use a tiny portion of Luigi to start fermentation, it’s always a multi-step process and takes a lot of time to get to the finished dough in the end.

I rather use Luigi to re-spawn Ötzi, my medium rye and whole einkorn mutt starter, and keep it going for a few months. That way I can skip a step in the recipes and get to the finish line faster.

All you need is a teaspoon of fully active lievito madre to make another sourdough. In this case, I made three new ones: a milk and honey version for dessert bakes (left), the rye/einorn one (middle), and a taste test batch with white tea and mochi (right) which was turned into waffle dough soon after. The ratios of that one need some more work.

To make the rye/einkorn starter, you need

• 1 tsp active lievito madre (or any other sourdough)
• 50g water
• 50g medium rye flour
• 50g whole einkorn flour (freshly milled is best)

Dissolve the lievito in the water, add the flour and mix. You end up with a stiff, plaster like substance. Place the jar in a warm place for an hour or two, until you see activity, then move it into the fridge. Congratulations, you’ve just spawned a new, full strength sourdough!

Keep feeding it after you downsized (either by baking or discarding) and just add the same weight amounts of water and flours. Feed regularly once a week. This one gets very sour very quickly.