Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It works fine - whether it will have the specific taste you are seeking is another matter. Sourdough culture is a function of both the original organisms plus your own local environment. This culture will "morph" over time. One point which repeatedly comes up, as I read these reviews, is that the product starts out OK, only to "fail" after a few days. This scenario is not a failure; it is the biology of the process. Once the culture uses up all of the food (in this case, flour and/or sugar), it will cease to bubble and cease to grow.....until it is fed again. The bubbling comes from the fermentation of the carbohydrates in the flour. Absent fuel (substrate), it cannot bubble indefinitely. Once all the carbohydrates are consumed, it then "goes to sleep" waiting for the next feeding. The bye-products of the fermentation are a beer-like acid and alcohol mixture (typically brownish in color) which forms on the top. This liquid is called the "hooch" and it is the source of the flavor imparted to your final bread product. The hooch absolutely should NOT be discarded but rather stirred back in to preserve the flavor. Don't worry if you don't wish to imbibe. The alcohol will burn off in the oven, leaving only the flavor. Once the product is fed again, the culture "wakes up" and starts to work on the new substrate (flour or sugar) which you just added to the mixture. Now, it will, once again, begin to bubble then quickly stop doing so and go dormant ......until you add more substrate. Sourdough cultures are very demanding, in this regard. They go dormant more and more rapidly between feedings; they require more and more feedings to stay active i.e. bubbly. The more you feed them, the quicker they will go from bubbly to dormant - leaving you with an ever bigger layer of hooch. Remember you must always add some water to your culture, whenever you feed it - near equal parts (less water by 1/4-1/3) is about right, but this is not an exact science. One thing you can do is to take several cups (2 cups is about right) of your starter mixture and put it into a large plastic jar (I like the shape and size of ones which originally had Folger's coffee crystals, largest size) - add another cup of flour, then stick it in the refrigerator. It will keep literally for months in there and not require feeding until you are ready to "wake it up" so as to make another batch of bread. I have literally (no exaggeration) kept it in this form for 8-9 months during times when I was not in the mood or else too busy to bake bread. It gets VERY sour during this time and makes great tasting bread, once you get around to making another batch. The hooch becomes very acidic and beer-like. There is one more thing which you can do to ensure that your bread tasty. Take out your refrigerated culture and dump it into a large mixing bowl, then add 3-4 cups of flour. Let this brew sit overnight in your kitchen; cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel - talk about bubbles and fermentation! The next morning, take 2-3 cups out of your bowl, put it into the Folger's jar, add another cup of flour and return the jar to the frig. Use the remainder of what is left in your large mixing bowl to make your bread. You will get very tangy, great-tasting bread. Use some rye flour to your fermentation mix if you like a very tangy bread - 1 part rye to 3 parts white flour. Rye fermentation increases acidity. The bottom line is to stop fretting. This product performs exactly as it is intended to do. First, it didn't "die" or "fail." It simply went to sleep i.e. became dormant, waiting for its next "handout." Unless you are going to bake bread every few days, you need to refrigerate this thing. Second, your culture is eventually going to take on characteristics of where you live and the atmospheric organisms in YOUR kitchen. YOU do not live next to the Great Pyramid of Giza (so forget about preserving that exact taste) and probably you do not live in San Francisco, either (well, maybe you do). Lets not get "OCD" about this whole thing. Eventually, over time, your culture is going to take on the properties of where ever it is that you do actually live and that just fine. Your bread will be unique to you and no one else's sourdough will be quite like yours. Questions? Email me at brennele@npceu.com