Live Sourdough Starter

I’ve tried off and on to learn how to make sourdough bread, always craving that San Francisco sour taste and texture we all love. I have ordered King Arthur starters in the past, but always gave up. The flavor was never there, and every loaf was too dense. This go-around, I decided to order a new starter from Amazon for fast shipping, and I’m so glad that I did. I can’t keep up with this very active starter! It is like a pet that needs constant feeding! And so that translates to dough that rises and has nice big bubbles in the texture. And the sour flavor is there! I am a hero at home with sourdough bread coming out of the oven at least 3 times a week. And that’s with me working full time. Here is my process, using King Arthur’s recipe and a few other things I’ve learned: If dinner plans for the next day involve sourdough bread, then the evening before, when I arrive home from work, I take my starter out of the fridge, give it a little stir and feed it about 1/4 cup of flour. I leave it on the countertop while going about our evening routine. A couple hours later, after the family has had dinner and the kitchen is cleaned, and I’m about to close the kitchen for the night, I’ll start the bread. The starter by now looks happy and bubbly. Almost foamy bubbly. You can take off a pinch and put it into a cup of water. It will float if it is ready. So then I pour about a cup of the starter into a container that has a lid. At least a 2 liter container. Then I go back to feed my starter up to a cup of flour (depending on how much room is in my jar) and an equal amount of water, mix, cover, and return to fridge. Then back to the container of freshly poured starter, I add 3 cups unbleached white flour and 1.5 cups water. Stir really briskly for 1 minute. Cover and put in fridge for the night. The next morning before work, I add 2.5 teaspoons kosher or Himalayan salt, and 1 more cup of flour. I stir this just till the flour is absorbed. The dough looks kind of raggedy, but the salt and flour is mixed in enough to start the next phase. Let this sit for 30 minutes. Then just before leaving to work, add up to a cup more of flour while kneading into a soft and slightly sticky dough (feels tacky but doesn’t stick to hands). I can’t usually get more than a 1/2 cup in there. So for the recipe I end up using a total of 4.5 cups. The recipe calls for up to 5 cups.you don’t want the dough to be too heavy bc you’ll love the light airy and bubbly texture of the finished bread. Knead until smooth. Return the dough to the container and keep covered. This will be about 1 liter of dough. Now if someone isn’t home to help me with the next steps, I’ll bring the dough to work. This just means i won’t be able to start cooking it until 5:30 or so. The next process is easy. Every hour, the dough needs to be gently lifted and stretched and folded over itself while carefully preserving the air that has filled the dough. Having slightly wet hands helps. Go around the container and do this 4 times to get all 4 quarters of the dough lifted and folded over itself then cover and wait another hour. Each time you do this, you’ll notice the dough is changing! After 4 or 5 times, the dough is ready to rise in its proofing container. This is about 2:00 pm for me. I get a piece of parchment paper and a bowl about the size of a regular sourdough boulle. I wet the parchment paper and wring it out like a wash rag so it is soft and mouldable to the size of the bowl. Line the bowl with the wet paper. Then lift the dough out of the container, being careful not to lose any of the air that has developed in the dough. Remember there is no added yeast helping out your starter. The starter is doing all the work, so try not to lose what it has done for you. Gently fold into a soft ball of dough, tucking edges underneath till top is smooth. Lay the dough gently into the parchment paper-lined bowl. Cover, and let rise 2 hours. Preheat oven to 425° with a lidded Dutch oven inside that is about the size of a sourdough boulle. The Dutch oven pot will get very hot. Cut a 1/4” deep slice or two across the top of the dough at this point. When the oven is preheated, remove the Dutch oven and lift the dough by the parchment paper, carefully setting it down into the hot pot. Put the lid on the pot and return to the hot oven. After 20 minutes, remove the lid. Continue baking until the bread is a deep golden brown. Remove from the pot, pulling up by the parchment paper to lift. Set your beautiful bread on a cooking rack. Discard the parchment paper. Allow to cool completely before cutting!!! That is the hardest part!! My favorite way to eat is toasted with butter. My family also likes to add honey. It is also delicious plain! Good quality flour is important. If your flour has a cheap smell to it, do not use! I also use filtered water to both feed my starter and for my recipe.

I am a beginner baker. First time break baker. Tried making my own starter. Never took off. Ordered this one and whoa! Everyone loves the loaves! Flavor was great and texture was perfect! I made bread for 3 weeks and doubles the amount I made each time! I loved adding rosemary or Italian seasoning during the folding stages (the earlier you add, the more evenly it will disperse).

After failed starters I saw on some groups that this starter was amazing. I was ready to give up and had not even started yet. :( Thankfully I purchased this starter! It arrived quickly and healthy. 2 feedings and I had a beautiful strong starter. I make bread once a week so I only feed it before making my bread and within 3 hours it’s doubled and bubbly!! Here’s some photos of my beauties. Thank you for selling this!! My breads come out delicious and gorgeous every time!!

This starter is awesome!! I bought it because my husband accidentally cooked mine, it was in the oven with a light on it. I’ll never do that again! But actually I don’t have to. It came in a couple of days earlier than expected. I fed it and it’s been growing strong ever since!! I’m very pleased with this purchase. My sourdough bread is amazing! Get this starter you won’t be disappointed. It also comes with good instructions and a video.

I followed the video instructions exactly and fed it as soon as it arrived to my door. First thing i noticed was a strong pungent almost "vingery" smell that never went away in the first 3 feedings which the video prescribed. The starter never really activated. Best it would do is create tiny small bubbles on the surface but nothing like my own starter given to me by a baker friend (which their starter smells really good as I continue to use it... a wonderful "doughy" smell. After their instructions failed to activate their start in a healthy way, I resorted to a 1/1/1 approach and noticed the pungent smell was reduced and color was turning more white (not the pale yellow that was evident up to that point.).. Still to no avail as I left it out at room temperature 24hrs and while the bubbles became larger over this time... still very very little activity going on there... leading me to thing their starter was no good. The pic below is almost 24hr wait time sitting out room temp.

Fantastic product! Here I am, only a week and a half after receiving my sourdough starter. The culture, after being fed, as instructed, is doing terrific. It's healthy, Highly reactive, and, imparts a wonderful flavor to all that I have Baked. The first bread that I made, only three days after having received the starter, had a perfect crumb and pretty good flavor. I have been baking with it about every other day since. the flavor is getting better and better; hard to believe, considering how flavorful it was from the start. Four days after first feeding, I started keeping this "Mother Starter" in the fridge. I now, late in the evening, take out what I will need, the next day, from Mom to produce a sponge for the next loaf, feed her, then return to fridge. Next, I feed this portion of starter, with the same type of flour that I plan to bake with, and allow it to grow overnight in a covered bowl on my countertop. In the morning I mix this with the wet ingredients (preferably lukewarm) for the particular recipe that I've chosen, allow to sit for an hour or so, finally mixing in the Dry components to a shaggy dough (mixed just enough to ensure that all is 99% wet.) About 45 minutes to an hour, or so, latter I'll perform a four point stretch and fold to form a sort of flattened ball. This, upon being covered in a bowl 2 to three times the current dough volume, sits on my counter till the next morning; unless it has something like eggs in it, that require it to be refrigerated, of course.--Checked periodically to make sure it doesn't over flow its home--thumping the bowl, as necessary, to knock it down. Time to shape(or just toss in a bread pan) and bake. Mumm..Mumm...Good. I'm very happy with this live version of Breadtopia Sourdough Starter. Highly recommended for a fast, no hassle, start.

Have not tried starter video is easy to follow and has good tips. YouTube breadtopia awesome

No lie, this is a dummy proof sourdough starter. We have tried the freeze dried kind and killed it, tried one from scratch, killed it. This one came and one week it, it is beautiful! I am so excited to finally start baking. Easy peasy instructions and easy feeding schedule. Definitely recommend!