Starter Cultures
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San Francisco Sourdough Starter
This classic heirloom starter culture ferments white flour to make deliciously tangy San Francisco-style bread, pizza crust, and more. Our most popular choice for sourdough.- Makes all kinds of classic white flour sourdough baked goods
- Flexible culture: feed daily at room temp. or weekly in the fridge
- Contains starter culture and instructions
$13.99San Francisco Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- Organic white wheat flour, live active cultures
- This product contains no GMO ingredients.
Allergen Information
- Manufactured in a facility that processes products containing gluten.
- Non-GMO
- Vegan
San Francisco Sourdough Starter
What You'll Need
You’ll need these items from your pantry to make sourdough starter with this culture:
- White flour
- A glass jar or similar container
- Bottled water
San Francisco Sourdough Starter
Reviews
"didnt work for me"
Followed the directions to the letter and the starter did nothing, waste of $19. Response from CFH: Thank you for reaching out and allowing us to assist you behind the scenes. We are here to troubleshoot possible issues and help you get some great sourdough, so please keep in touch!
"Perfect sourdough"
Received my order quickly, and started it the next day. Took right off without a hitch, Been making bread for a few days now, and has been wonderfull!
"Great Starter"
This stuff took right off and got very active quickly. It took less time than advertised. The best news is that it makes sour sourdough bread like the stuff I am used to in San Francisco area where I live. I highly recommend it.
"True San Francisco flavor"
I bought this starter because I wanted sourdough flavor like San Francisco Sourdough Bread I used to buy in San Diego in the 1970’s. This tastes like it.
"good product"
the product is great and what is even better is you can refer back to the site for questions and help....
"It didn't work."
Your customer was replete with recommendations in an effort to aid me. I attempted to use them but in the end I garnered two things from the purchase. (1) Your starter didn't work for me (2) Your price is almost 50% higher than another purveyor. I don't like writing negative reviews but I believe this one is earned. I ended up making a starter based on a recipe from another vendor. In addition they have a free tip line and spent time with me on what is essentially a free recipe. Needless to say their starter worked and yours didn't. No I don't work for them, nor do any of my relatives. Response from CFH: We are thankful for your review of our starter, and very sorry it did not produce good results for you. Thank you for working with us, and if we can be of service to you in the future for your fermenting needs, please reach out.
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Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
Give your gluten-free bread, pizza dough, crackers, donuts, and more a lift with sourdough. Cultured with brown rice, this starter culture is a versatile staple in a gluten-free kitchen.- Makes all kinds of gluten-free sourdough baked goods
- Vigorous culture: feed 3x per day at room temp. or twice a week in the fridge
- Contains starter culture and instructions
$13.99Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- Organic brown rice flour, live active cultures.
Allergen Information
- Manufactured in a facility that also processes products containing soy and dairy.
- Non-GMO
- Gluten-free
- Vegan
Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
What You'll Need
You’ll need these items from your pantry to make sourdough with this culture:
- Brown rice flour
- Glass jar or similar jar
Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
Reviews
"Great product"
I'm new to baking with sourdough starter. So far I've tried waffles, pretzels, french bread and dinner rolls with good results. It's a lot to learn but your kind customer service will walk you go any questions.
"Worked great"
This worked great, lots of bubbles and came out with a great gluten free sourdough boule. Thanks for from getting me started down the gluten free sourdough road
"works great"
I ordered two of these, used one to begin a starter culture in a jar, and then I thought oh why not, and I put the other packet in the culture jar after a day or two, then just threw in a large amount, maybe a cup, of brown rice flour, added some water, stirred it up, and then it worked very well. I'm sure it would have worked with only one packet, but I wanted to see what would happen. I am grinding my own brown rice flour from Lundberg's organic sprouted brown rice. I have an electric mill with stone wheels or what you may call them. So I put a cup of dry rice in it, grind it, and then immediately put it in the culture jar. All I ever do with this stuff is make pancakes, which means I melt some butter in a cast-iron pan and then throw in some starter culture. It's really good.
"Super Fast Starter!"
I got mine started Monday morning and by this morning (Wednesday) it was all bubble and happy w/foam on top. I can't believe how fast this was to get started and I was wayyyyyy off w/the feedings. It was at least 12 hour between feedings both Mon night/Tues morning and last night to this morning. I was a little sticker shocked at the price but for the time it saved and how long I'll be using this - it's a steal! Thank you so much for this wonderful starter!!
"Excellent starter, quick to hydrate and get ready for baking!"
I hydrated my starter yesterday, several weeks after the expiry date (oops!) and within 24 hours it was bubbly and frothy. By the end of the second day, it was doubling in size and I was almost ready to bake with it! Excellent starter so far. Now we just need to actually bake with it. :)
"Great"
This GF sour dough is super easy to start & I love using it. Thanks for a great product.
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Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter
Make real whole grain sourdough bread at home with this vigorous starter culture. Then, take your waffles, muffins, bagels, and more to the next level. One of our favorite starter cultures.- Makes all kinds of whole grain sourdough baked goods
- Flexible culture: feed daily at room temp. or weekly in the fridge
- Contains starter culture and instructions
$13.99Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- Organic whole wheat flour, live active cultures
Allergen Information
- Manufactured in a facility that processes products containing gluten.
- Non-GMO
- Vegan
Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter
What You'll Need
You’ll need these items from your pantry to make sourdough starter with this culture:
- Whole wheat flour
- A glass jar or similar container
- Bottled water
Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter
Reviews
"following instruction to the letter and FAILURE"
Product arrived in good shape. Open package and followed to the letter. Used distilled water to start the "starter". Finished the steps... Waited 36 hours for a reaction. NONE. I am a homebrewer, so I know fermentation. Would not purchase again. Response from CFH: Thank you for reaching out to us. We are very sorry for the trouble, and we thank you for allowing us to make this right. We look forward to future correspondence with the starter.
"Best daily bread!"
The instructions were super easy to follow and the bread turned out amazing. Actually, I found out that it's quite forgiving and I can vary the times for feeding and such quite a bit and it still turns out delicious and perfect texture every time! I've been playing with the recipe based on https://nourishedkitchen.com/whole-grain-no-knead-sourdough/ and modifying it. Happy to share here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15kZKVhIZK6z_KJMB7gA_7U4N-Jjpb0QspAYeMx0v5FQ/edit?usp=sharing. My family is happy :)
"Starter works great but I need more practice"
As a total beginner bread baker, it was a bit frustrating. First attempt didn't work out very well for many reasons. The 2nd attempt produced bread but was a little denser than I liked. My biggest problem is I can't get the gluten to the window-pane stage after much kneading/dough stretching (gave up after an hour). I probably should've gotten the San Francisco sourdough starter as I've been told whole wheat is much harder to work with. Customer Service has been great giving me tips and ideas. I may take a break on bread making and look for some other recipes that doesn't require so much kneading. And if there is a big sale, I might give the San Francisco sourdough starter a try.
"1st attempt flopped"
My first attempt produced a dense, extremely sour bread and it went in the bin. I may have overproofed it so I will try again. I would like to find a another recipe to go by his time. Response from CFH: Remember that whole wheat is going to produce a heavier more sour bread by nature! Definitely experiment with your proofing time, and contact us if needed!
"Activated quick and easy"
I had unfortunately killed a starter that a friend had used for years and I had used for over a year by not looking closely at a new bag of flour that turned out to be a bleached flour so I was looking for a replacement and was interested in whole wheat since I never had luck with whole wheat flours with my old starter. This starter activated and started bubbly within a few days much quicker than I expected and works great with my whole wheat flour my first loaf was good and I'm really excited about my next one which is rising as I were this.
"Very Good indeed!"
This sourdough starter has proven to be a success. We have had delicious waffles and hamburger buns. Will definitely be recommending this to friends.
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Rye Sourdough Starter
Make real rye sourdough bread, English muffins, noodles, and more at home! Our quickest-to-rise sourdough starter, it proves delicious bread in under 3 hours.- Makes all kinds of rye and rye/wheat sourdough baked goods
- Flexible culture: feed daily at room temp. or weekly in the fridge
- Contains starter culture and instructions
$13.99Rye Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- Organic rye flour, live active cultures
- This product contains no GMO ingredients.
Allergen Information
- Manufactured in a facility that processes products containing gluten.
- Non-GMO
- Vegan
Rye Sourdough Starter
What You'll Need
You’ll need these items from your pantry to make sourdough starter with this culture:
- Rye flour
- A glass jar or similar container
- Bottled water
Rye Sourdough Starter
Reviews
"Love this sourdough..."
I haven't baked/cooked with my rye sourdough yet, but I can say it has been very easy to start and smells great.
"a Great Starter"
Amazingly enough, I put my starter together on a very hot day with the air conditioning running. Eventually I noticed that I was wasting all this great heat, so i put the jar out in the garage. Magical bubbles! I've only made two things from it so far: crepes from just plain starter itself fried in butter, and then the no-knead focaccia. That second one was interesting, because I put too much dough into the pan (the recipe in the Rye cookbook that I also got here said to make a thinner layer of dough), but i went ahead and did it anyway, and after twenty minutes at 450 I heard some sounds and the loaf pan was boiling and bubbling with olive oil and I suppose the water that came out of the dough! So I basically boiled it for twenty minutes in olive oil! But I took it out of the oven and let it sit on the counter, and the liquid was soon reabsorbed into the "bread." I haven't tried it yet, but it smells terrific.
"Great product"
Love this! My sister became so excited to hear I was making sourdough rye bread as it is one of her favourites. It was easier than I thought and was thoroughly enjoyed. Now for sourdough rye English muffins...yeah!!!
"Excellent Sourdough"
I know I could have shared my discard, but I gave my second purchase to a friend for her birthday. Despite a little slow development, both suddenly went into action, which sourdough can be like that. I contacted Customer Service and had a question answered quickly. I am very happy with this. Thank you.
"I love it and I use it often for many things."
It took only 3 days to reconstitute and then it's been just a joy to have around. It bounds back when I leave it in the fridge for a week and it is just easy to use.
"excellant"
It was amazingly healthy within a week. I really love this. It's hands down the strongest starter I've ever had. Making great rye bread.
Featured Reviews
"My first starter - a dream to work with."
After unsuccessfully trying to make my own starter from scratch I purchased these starter cultures. A year later, and I am in love with baking sourdough breads. This culture is un-fussy - the rise is FAST!! almost as fast as breads with yeast, and one feeding out of the fridge has it ready to go for baking day. I highly recommend this culture for beginning sourdough bakers. I fiddled around with a few recipes but now have a reliable 80% whole wheat sandwich style bread that I can adapt to suit my moods. I don't find it overly sour as the other reviewer mentioned - but to make it even less so I add in a bit of baking soda to counter-act the acidity - in my opinion this is a better a solution than adding sweetener. Do not think that you can only make Rye breads with this rye starter. It has worked beautifully in many different recipes with all different types of flour.
"Update after 2 years"
This review is a followup for my previous review. The New Zealand starter has been excellent. I've cultured it with barley, rye, and wheat, and made numerous types of breads, pizzas, English muffins, pancakes, and even desserts (like gingerbread, cookies) with it. It has been very adaptable, tolerating a wide range of temperatures (after it was already live). I love how quick it is, as well. The only thing I'd change in my last review is my review on price - it's absolutely worth it. At the time, I didn't appreciate the value of what I was buying, as it was my first starter, and I didn't realize it could last a lifetime. Of course it's worth the minimal initial investment! All and all, I think that making my family's bread from scratch has been our biggest dollar saver and health enhancer.
"First timer here. Glad I went for it."
This is my first starter and I was sure I would kill it, but I didn't! I pampered it the first few days with one slip up that made me feel like a bad parent ;) I have since realized it's pretty forgiving. My first two loaves went well. The flavor was very mild but the bread cut really well (not crumbly) and made great toast. From what I have read, the flavor may improve with age and from keeping it just a bit dryer of a starter, not so wet. I moved it to the refrigerator just over a week ago after deciding I was discarding too much starter... pouring money down the drain. We don't eat a lot of bread so I will keep it refrigerated most of the time. I tried some bread sticks one evening and they failed terribly. You really need a good recipe and time to follow correctly and time to experiment. My experience is very little so far. I hope to try rolls and pretzels but so far the bread is good and that's the reason I bought the starter, so I'm good with that. I took it out last night, fed it and left it on the counter. I will be making my second batch of sourdough bread today. If you enjoy baking and healthy bread, give it a try.
"Good quality"
I ordered this thermometer because I had a coupon. This is my first digital thermometer. I like it because it is waterproof. I use it to make yogurt and kefir. In the past, I have bought Taylor brand standard thermometers and found them to be good quality. I'm expecting this one to hold up well also.
"Reliable and easy to read"
I use it for making yogurt, and feta cheese. I use it to be sure my hand feeding formula is the right temperature for baby parrots. Easy to read and very reliable.
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