Traditional sourdough starter vs starter fed with potato flakes and sugar.

[Sandy Y]

I have a friend whose starter is fed with potato flakes and sugar. I am some what familiar with the traditional starter using flour and water. Am interested in the differences in flavor and easy of handling.

[paulraphael]

Most sources I've seen recommend against adding any kind of secret sauce to a starter. The reasoning is that you'll start selecting for strains of yeast and bacteria that thrive on these other ingredients. If those ingredients don't make up a significant part of your bread dough, then your culture will be out of its element and probably won't perform as well as one that evolved for that environment. 

 

It's why you should generally use the same kind of flour for the culture as for the bread. 

 

As a practical matter, there's probably no way to know if you'll like the bread better or worse (or like the process better or worse) without trying it. But this would be a very time-consuming experiment ... not one I'm interested in taking on. Sourdough is complicated enough for me even when I keep it simple.