02/06/2010

Krista from Minneapolis, MN

I bought this a few months ago after getting frustrated with the $7.00 a week cost for my husband's sourdough fixation. We love it. It took a few weeks before I really got the feel of the dough consistency. I never use the total amount of flour noted on the recipe, however. It must be my really dry house. It does take time and dedication to maintain the starter and make the bread.

01/31/2010

violinnm from Houston TX

I have made incredible breads, beginning with this awesome sourdough. The instructions that came with the starter are very clear and it is easy to maintain (even through Hurricane Ike's power failure). I store it in the KAF crock, a perfect team!

01/25/2010

Helgard from Rio Grande Valley

I am coming of THE country of breads - we have hundreds of different types. So I never did expect getting a sourdough in the US and started making my own - and failed. Now I got the starter from King Arthur about 6 months ago and I did feed it with rye flour for getting a rye sourdough starter. It works very well, I am able now to make the real rye sourdough bread. Besides I can control my husbands diabetes and am not worried getting him lots of hidden sugars. The consistency and taste is like coming directly from a German bakery. The only displeasing side effect is: I have to bake 4 loafes (2 pounds each) of bread every week because friends are always begging for bread.... p.s.: the lady who has the problems with the dying sourdough - maybe she uses the tap water. Sometimes it has lots of chlorine and the sourdough does not like it at all. Maybe she can have a try with bottled water.

01/23/2010

Sharon E from Rapid City, SD

New to bread making, and a big bread lover of home made bread. Loved the idea of 250 year old American dough starter and loved the tangy sough dough bread it made. Thank you for being there

01/22/2010

Joni M from St. Louis

I've had my starter now for a long time and have to say that it was pretty mild at first, but now it smells really, well, sour, but in a good way! And if you find your starter is continually dying, could you by chance be using tap water with chlorine in it? Use distilled water...The extra sour sourdough loaf that takes 3 days to make is one awesome loaf!

01/19/2010

Rachel from Mission, KS

I purchased this starter a few weeks ago and I was very happy with the results until I baked my first loaves. They looked beautiful and the texture was spot-on but the flavor was far from "sour". Is there a way to get a more "sour" flavor without going through the 20+ hour process of the Tangy Sourdough recipe?
Try a small does of Sour Salt: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/sour-salt-citric-acid Frank @ KAF.

01/18/2010

Jill from California

I was so excited to use my starter but was somewhat disappointed in my final product. I had expected a much more pungent taste but thought mine tasted a lot like the french bread I make. I am not sure if I did something wrong or not. Also, it took a lot of time/steps and I missed the timing a bit b/c it seemed like I had to do something every 2-4 hours. I ended up ditching the whole thing. Maybe I'll try again in the future.
Have you seen the recipe for Extra Tangy Sourdough? It involves an overnight rest to develop the flavor and may be what you are looking for. Here's the link to the recipe http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/extra-tangy-sourdough-bread-recipe. Molly @ KAF

01/03/2010

Jane from Iowa City, Iowa

After losing our favorite sourdough bread company, I stumbled across this starter and gave it to my husband for the holidays. Yum! Our first loaf was dense, but our second loaf (after neglecting it for several hours while rising) turned out terrific. One question: our starter was placed in the back of the fridge and it got hard/possible frozen. Can it be revived?
Jane - I am happy to see you are having fun experimenting with the starter. Your starter is not harmed by becoming frozen for a period of time. Just feed it as you usually would after it defrosts at room temperature. Elisabeth @ KAF

01/02/2010

Kristie from Cedar Rapids, IA

I purchased this started awhile ago. While I haven't been completely overwhelmed by the sour flavor as I had hoped, it makes a great loaf of bread. I even used it this week to make sourdough flat bread pizza. They were probably the best pizza shells I've ever made.

12/30/2009

Sara from Virginia

Ok, so here's the problem: it keeps dying on me. I'm doing something wrong, and I don't know what. I feed it. I love it. I keep it in the fridge in a clean little crock. Why, oh why, does it die? I've ordered it now three times... I'm a good baker, too, I promise! So what's the beef?? It makes great bread, and it's very vigorous... if you can keep it from turning blue on you!
Sorry to hear you are having trouble with the starter. Please phone our bakers hotline, and we will be happy to troubleshoot.