For our recipes using your sourdough starter; check out the Sourdough Starter recipe , Feeding a Sourdough Starter and a Sourdough Bread recipe.
We also have a Small Bread Making Kit which also include a Sourdough Starter and is an excellent gifts for any bread lover. We often find that the Sourdough Starter is bought as a gift which is a lovely idea. Please be aware that this item must be refrigerated within 48 hours of arrival. Course of the month:. Seasonal Recipes. Thousands of bakers before you have made wonderful bread with a bit of this same bubbling brew. Join the ranks of satisfied sourdough bakers.
Thus we recommend no more than 10 days elapse between when the sourdough starter you purchase leaves our facility, and when you give it its first feeding. Keep this in mind when choosing a delivery method; if you need help making the smartest shipping choice, please contact our customer service team. To build up your starter, follow the instructions that come with it and keep it at room temperature for the first few days.
Classic Fresh Sourdough Starter. Current Stock:. Adding to cart… The item has been added. Discarding also gives you precise control over the feeding ratio. Because you control the seed amount, you effectively control how quickly your starter ferments, keeping the culture from becoming too acidic or weak in gluten structure.
At worst, it could have unpleasant smells and flavors, and even some unwanted pathogens that could make you sick. Beyond feeding and scheduling, the first important variable in the development of a starter is flour.
There are several good options, ranging from wheat flour to cereal grains. Here are some of the most common, with some notes on what they can contribute to a loaf. It's also worth noting that you're not necessarily locked into a flour choice after you start. You can use whatever you have on hand so long as it's not bleached flour , and then transition to another—assuming your starter continues to peak and be active. For example, you can get a starter going quickly with a combination of rye and whole wheat flours, then gradually switch to mostly all-purpose flour.
But be aware that switching the flour in your starter can introduce additional layers of complexity that can be difficult to predict. Most people use water in their starters. Chlorine is inhibitory to yeast and bacteria, and in high enough concentrations will kill those essential microbes, effectively impeding fermentation.
The best way around this? Use bottled or filtered water. Alternatively, leaving tap water out uncovered in a wide container overnight will allow that chlorine to evaporate over time. In this case, carbon or reverse osmosis filtering are your best bets. Some people advocate adding beer with wild yeast, such as Hefeweizen which contains yeast sediment after bottling to give their new starters a head start. Others steep grape skins into their water or use grape must, which are rich in lactic acid bacteria LAB and yeasts.
And some opt for whey, banking on that added boost of LAB to inoculate their culture. But those are uncommon methods, and beyond the scope of this guide. Temperature has a significant impact on the development of your starter, since it influences the level of fermentative activity. Mature starters can survive and grow over a relatively wide range of temperatures as low as 41 degrees Farenheit, and as high as degrees.
Ambient temperature in the middle of an Atlanta heatwave is considerably higher than room temperature in the dead of winter in Montreal.
The effective range for the development of a new starter and maintaining it lies between 70 and 80 degrees. In this range, yeast can grow steadily, and lactic acid bacteria can flourish. Based on several sources, keeping the temperature around 80 degrees is optimal for reliable development early on. If held at higher temperatures 85 and higher , undesirable microbes such as E. Assuming you have some degree of control over the temperature where your starter lives, you can and should play with this variable until you find what works best for you.
For example, if your starter ferments at a faster rate than desired—peaking well before its next feeding—you can slow things down by lowering the fermenting temperature. No matter what temperature you choose, make sure you can keep it consistent.
I keep my starters in a cool off! During this time, you may observe rapid gains in height and sour flavors. The culture is still normalizing, zeroing in on that proper balance of microbes. For instance, at a feeding ratio of or , a healthy starter should peak in at most hours. How do you spot the peak? There are certain visual cues: More than doubling or tripling in volume, some bubbles on the surface, a dimpled and uneven, slightly domed top, some lingering strength in the mixture.
If your starter is alcoholic, pungent, soupy with small or weak bubbles, and there are visible streaks on the inner walls of the jar a sign that the starter has already risen and started to fall , then the starter is past peak.
Ultimately, finding the peak involves monitoring your starter over a number of days. Predictability is the name of the game. So it helps to take pictures, keep a journal, and use rubber bands to measure gains in height over time.
In my tests, my starters matured after about two weeks, but yours might take far longer. Just keep going. Overall, it helps to keep feeding times and temperature consistent and strict. Keep feeding, keep taking notes, and keep feeding again. Remember: Natural selection takes time. Say your new starter has matured after a couple weeks. According to Trevor, the float test is a fallacy.
Want a better indicator? Look for signs of vigorous fermentation. A healthy starter should triple, or even quadruple in volume in a short period of time under the right conditions for example, hours at 80 degrees, fed at The starter should feature uneven dimples on its surface, evidence of a few big, sturdy, bubbles on the top, and should feel like bubbly whipped cream when you stir it. Most of all, this activity should be predictable and consistent every day.
Keeping your starter healthy involves sustained feeding. How often do you feed it, when do you feed it, and in what ratio? That largely depends on your schedule and some trial and error. The goal is to feed at peak, or as close to peak as possible. For example, if feeding or , then a healthy starter usually peaks in 4 to 6 hours at a warm temperature degrees. One way to feed less frequently is to keep your starter in a cooler place around 72 degrees , slowing down fermentation slightly.
Another way to slow down fermentation is to increase the dilution of flour and water relative to starter—feeding or higher. If you wish to feed once per day, then your feed ratio must be considerably higher. But at least anecdotally, Kristen Dennis and I have both found that less frequently fed starters show slightly less vigorous activity than starters fed on a more frequent, lower-ratio schedule.
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