Cultures for Health San Francisco Sourdough Style Starter Culture | Homemade Artisan Bread | Heirloom, non-GMO | Live Culture Bread Mix | Easy to Follow Recipe

I bought the 8-pack of dehydrated sourdough starter and used them as stocking stuffers for my siblings last Christmas—and they were a hit! Such a fun and unique gift idea, especially for anyone who’s into baking or wants to dip their toes into sourdough but is gluten free! I also didn't realize that once you have a starter going you can share it with others so maybe the 8 pack wasn't necessary. Make sure you read the front and back side one of them is for GLUTEN FREE and the other is their REGULAR STARTER!I kept one for myself and used it to start a gluten-free sourdough starter back in January. It was super easy to activate with clear instructions, and I’m honestly impressed—my starter came to life quickly and is still going strong months later! Bubbly, active, and baking up some delicious muffins, waffles, donuts, and pizza crust.Highly recommend if you want a starter that’s beginner-friendly, giftable, and legit. Plus, love that it gave me a reliable gluten-free option without all the guesswork. Solid 5 stars from me!

Final update: Seller had actually sent a message saying “reply to this message with ‘full refund’ if you would like a full refund.” I replied as such. Seller asked for details about my sourdough process. After multiple back and forths and my prompting they said they actually were not issuing a refund because I’m still working on my starter… what? lol. Huge waste of time and personally I’m never ordering from them again.Update: Seller gave me a refund :,( I feel terrible but I did try my best with it. I’m going to buy it again so I can hopefully get it started and give this five stars.I’ve been really hesitant to write a review, because it could be something on my end. However, I feel I’ve tried EVERYTHING and haven’t gotten this starter to work. I followed the directions exactly and didn’t have a working starter after a week. At a certain point (after the week) I added less water so it could hold bubbles better and I could see if it was growing. I’ve since tried two different bottled waters, mainly spring, multiple flours, including whole wheat and multiple methods of warming the starter. Currently I’ve been using unbleached AP at a 1:1:1 ratio, with the proofing setting on my toaster at 85 degrees and feeding consistently at either the 12 hour mark or the 24 hour mark (trying to figure out when it would like to be fed). It bubbles a little bit and bubbles reach the surface eventually, say around the 12 hour mark and by that point it’s basically more liquid than solid, I can pour it like liquid into the trash when it’s time to discard (starts out like thick pancake batter). However, in that 12 hours it grows maybe a fifth (and that’s after like 6 hours and also where it stops). I’m now adding rye to see if that will get it going. Anyways, POINT IS: It’s been over a month now and even if it eventually starts growing properly (which I’m hoping it will) I can’t say the starter I originally purchased had anything to do with it. I’m pretty sure I just created my own starter for $13.One thing I will say is it never went through the early doubling phase that happens when starting your own starter and it never smelled bad. So maybe it was alive, I don’t know - but it didn’t work as advertised and I’m pretty annoyed at this point thinking I probably could’ve had more luck starting my own fresh starter three weeks ago… I don’t know.

According to most of what I read, my house is too cold to try and do sourdough (66-68 degrees) but it is doing well already on day 4. Its not super active just yet, but it is bubbling and I can smell a healthy culture of bacteria from the jar. It is taking slightly longer to show activity, but I can tell this is a very resilient culture. Looking forward to my first loaf ☺️

Very good, works, arrived fast, great quality

Yes, my starter did not work. BUT, the company contacted me and sent a new starter package. That speaks to me that they really do care. I’ll start again and see what happens. The company suggested I put the starter in a warmer location.

TLDR - Take your time, follow the instructions. Give it 10 days. This will make an EXCELLENT sourdough.Details -Patience is key.I sincerely thought my starter was a dud. Unlike the starter I've made here using what we locals like to call Wild Chicago Yeast...Lake County...this starter had a much different smell. It's not quite rancid, but it's different than other yeasts.I made two loaves last night and they were flat. I left them out and went to bed. This morning, I threw them in the oven at 500 degrees, then immediately lowered the oven to 450. I let the loaves cook for 22 minutes.I pulled them out and shrugged figuring it was a waste of time. I was wrong. These two "dud" loaves were better than anything I've made with my own starter. It was fluffy on the inside with a wonderful, crispy crust and that fantastic San Francisco sourdough flavor.I'm continuing to feed my starter and I can see it's more lively. It just takes time.