Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This sourdough starter brings me joy any day I can be in the kitchen. I bought my starter a year ago. It works great. Sometimes I am gone from home for a month at a time or even longer. When I return, the starter, kept in the refrigerator in a small glass bowl with the plastic lid on top but not fastened, looks dry and sad, but it's alive. I take it out, move it to a clean bowl and feed it with flour and water. I never throw away starter (it's often said you have to periodically throw away half to keep up its strength). I use it -- for bread, dumplings, pizza, and occasionally pancakes. Make yourself a personal pizza for lunch instead of a sandwich! It's that easy once you get into the rhythm of growing your own yeast. Even though I keep a very small amount of starter, I have never had any trouble reviving it. I'm not about to throw expensive King Arthur flour into the garbage. Every time I use the starter, I use about half and then refresh the rest. You'll soon see the appropriate quantitities for your needs. I move the starter to a clean bowl every week (unless I'm away). I feed my starter rainwater because our water is full of chlorine. It's easy to collect rainwater (even here in California where i have to do it seasonally and keep bottles in the garage or refrigerator). You could also buy distilled water, or maybe your water is OK. I often just have some starter out on the counter getting ready for whatever I might use it for. It's a very flexible ingredient. My most common use is for no knead bread -- bring out some starter in the afternoon (from the refrig), put together the dough right before bed, and let it rise overnight, and then bake in the a.m. and have a wonderful breakfast! I'm not going to get rich on what I save by not buying yeast, but these little economies add up if you have several of them. Plus the bread (and everything) you will make will be just scrumptious. And it is loads of fun to grow your own yeast.