Can I make sourdough bread with Indian wheat flour?
Yes, Indian wheat works. Any flour will grow a starter and ferment a dough, so you can absolutely bake sourdough with it. The one thing to check is gluten strength: much Indian atta is whole and softer, which is great for flatbreads and loaf-pan breads, but a freestanding loaf needs a stronger, higher-protein wheat (around 12 percent or more) to hold its shape. If your flour is on the weaker side, a stiff starter and a loaf pan will serve you well.
Answered by Hendrik, The Bread Code
From the book
Depending on the flour you have at hand, the type of starter changes. With more bacterial activity you have more gluten consumption of your microbes. So if you want to bake a free standing loaf, you need a flour with more gluten. The more gluten you have, the more of it can be broken down whilst still maintaining dough integrity. If you live in a country where the climate to grow wheat isn’t ideal and you only have weaker flours, then a stiff sourdough starter could be advised. The stiff sourdough starter will improve yeast activity and reduce bacterial activity. If you are a chaser of a very sour bread and have a very strong wheat flour then you can try to play with a liquid sourdough starter. The key difference between all of the starters is how much water is used in the starter. The regular starter has a 1:1 relationship of flour to water. The liquid starter has a 5:1 water-to-flour ratio, and the stiff starter has half as much water as flour, as summarized in Table 4.1 .
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