Certified Organic Live Sourdough Starter, Very Old and Mature - 46 year old Lake District Starter, Bread Starter - 80g for all types of flour with printed instruction by Kombuchaorganic®

Update: 3 months later: starter still going strong, alive and well. Feeding once a day now or even less and it’s continuing to make fantastic bread!Wanted to try making sourdough after baking my own bread using my Panasonic bread machine for the past 8 months or so. I did not have the energy or time to cultivate my own culture so I bought this starter from Amazon.It arrives in a small plastic sealed bag, as other reviewers have mentioned. Its quite watery on arrival. When opened, the intense smell of sourdough bread made me realise that this is the real deal and the bread would turn out with amazing flavour!Instructions could do with a bit of improving. Searching online I fed the starter with 100grams of Wholefood Earth Organic Wholemeal/Dark Rye Flour and 100 ml of boiled and cooled down to room temperature water and stirred into a plastic container. Within 2-3 hours the starter had almost doubled in size and retained its volume for a good 12 hours or so. I then used the first 100grams to make a sourdough bread with white bread flour in my bread machine which turned out amazing! Used its sourdough programme, removed 50 grams of water and 50 grams of flour from the base bread recipe and replaced with 100 grams of starter. It has a bit less rise than yeast but the flavour and texture was out of this world and a massive step up from the yeast type. Good open air bubbles in the bread, chewy and a very crunchy crust.Fed the starter again on the same day with another 100 grams of flour and water and it doubled again within a few hours and retained its strength. The culture is certainly very active and eats up the flour at an astonishing rate. Now I will split the culture in two and have one as backup in case I do something wrong and kill one of it.Have just prepared also a couple of pizza's to try tonight! Looking forward to tasting them and see whether they are like the Franco Manca sour dough pizza which I love!Highly recommended, the flavour, smell and rise is excellent!

First time I’ve ever made a successful sourdough loaf. Failed multiple times after making my own starter previously, so I had stuck with instant yeast for years to avoid flat rock-like loaves. I fed this as instructed for a couple of days first to build it up, and boy did it build. Let’s just say this is very much alive! I shall be looking after and feeding this diligently, though there isn’t much to do as it seems very forgiving. Currently it is my favourite pet so my cat will be disappointed. I spend far more time scouring the web or my book supply for new recipes to use it in, this will keep me happy in my kitchen for ages. Also, the flavour of this loaf is fab. Not too sour, and the texture is very good. I used my usual ‘no knead’ recipe (3 cups flour - 1/2 spelt and 1/2 white bread flour, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 1/2teas pink salt, 1/4teas instant yeast), but added 1 and 1/4 cups of fed starter instead of the 1/4teas yeast, and added 1tbls runny honey. I added the salt after 20mins of the dough resting to give the starter time to get going. I mix in the evening then leave it overnight to rise before shaping, but this one spilled out of the bowl. I use a Dutch oven to cook mine in to get the crisp rise. I didn’t follow the given instructions for how much starter to add to my loaf, probably because I have had horrid sourdough result before, but I think I could easily get away with only using 1 cup. The instructions are good and clear by the way, but I haven’t checked out the website yet. Can’t be more pleased with the results. Sourdough garlic and coriander naan breads next...Update: 3/4 cup of starter is plenty for my recipe. Also does a beautiful half and half whole meal sourdough with 1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten added.

This was a steep learning curve for me as I'd only dabbled in the odd white loaf using my Morphy Richards Fastbake breadmaker in the past. (I only mention the model in case anyone else wants to use one with this product.)It has taken about 4 or 5 attempts to make the perfect loaf (to our taste at least) and today's bake was fully proved and deliciously chewey. Every previous attempt was to sloppy or too sticky, or resulted in being too dense or uneven. So this is my process....Ingredients (updated after experimentation)250 warm water300 starter400 flour1 tsp brown sugar2 tsp salt0. I oil the bread tin with olive oil as the dough can be sticky, causing uneveness1. Tip the warm water into the bread tin2. Add the starter and mix with the water3. Add the flour4. Add the sugar and salt5. Use the dough setting (mode 8) to mix the dough (I stay with it for a few minutes and use a silicon spatula to make sure it doesn't stick and loosen the flower that sticks to the bottom)6. When finished 90 minutes later, pull the dough to the side and remove the mixing paddle7. Cover the tin with a damp cloth or tea towel8. Leave to prove for at least a couple of hours, preferably in the oven if it has a proving setting (35 degrees C), or even over night if at room temperature, otherwise it will be a denser loaf9. Finally, put the tin back in the bread maker and cook (mode 12) for an hourI have always been addicted to Warburtons Toasty but I'm now a convert, and don't suffer the bloating and water retention that comes with processed white bread.

Customer service is excellent, initial bag split in delivery and was replaced within a few days.Very active starter, followed the instructions and the started had good growth almost doubled in size and settled down. Lots of bubbles and healthy smelling.Did my first bake using a new method. Sourdough rose steadily and slowly during first proof, and held shape nicely in second proving.The bake rose beautifully albeit a very wonky bake, I normally bake in a dutch oven and tried an open bake.Flavour is lovely and bread has a good crumb.Very happy with the starter and will always be in mind for when I need to order more. My last batch lasted about 2 years.