Do I need to add fruit flies to create a sourdough starter?
Wild yeast lives on the surface of grains and plants, and insects like fruit flies help spread those yeast spores around, which is where the fruit fly idea comes from. Hendrik has even cultivated wild yeast that way as an experiment and baked good bread from it. For your own starter you do not need flies at all; the whole grain flour already carries plenty of the microbes you need.
Answered by Hendrik, The Bread Code
From the book
Naturally occurring yeast, present in the environment and on the surface of grains, used in sourdough fermentation as opposed to commercial yeast. There’s wild yeast on almost any surface of plants. The wild yeasts live in symbiosis with the plant providing a shield against pathogens and receiving sugars from the photosynthesis of the plant in return. When the plant becomes weak the wild yeasts can become parasitic and consume the host.
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