Finland Sourdough Culture

This takes days to prepare, so be ready for that. Huge time suck.

For starters, if you choose to buy this culture, I congratulate you! It tastes amazing, and rises wonderfully. I've used it to make bagels, danish rugbrot, whole wheat sandwich bread, even savory babka. Nothing seems to slow it down.Now the downside: Beware this company's customer service. I ordered another culture as a gift for my father and it never arrived. When I contacted them about securing a replacement, the person who emailed me back insisted that it showed as being delivered (it wasn't). They then suggested I speak to the United States Postal Service, and I don't know if you've ever tried get in touch with anyone from customer service at the USPS, but it was excruciating. I spent days talking to one person after the next before finally having to call Amazon and put in an A-Z guarantee claim. I then received a snotty email from the person at Sourdough International stating that there was nothing further they could do and their hands were tied... as if they'd lifted a single finger in the first place.Long story short, if you buy, be darn sure you won't need any kind of help and that your mailman is competent. Also, the instructions for activation that come in the package vary slightly from those on the website. I strongly recommend using the ones on the website instead, and weighing your ingredients. Don't use measuring cups!

A lot of sourdough cultures are mild. I done both whole wheat and refined flour batches with this culture and both have produced distinctly tangy loaves of sourdough bread, which we like. I did everything at room temp (instead of proofing box). It takes longer to get going, but I've found I just need to feed once a day. And I wasn't in a hurry to make sourdough bread. You do have to watch it closely though.I refrigerate the excess culture and know that I can get another 20 loaves of bread over the next few months (I use a Zojirushi bread maker that makes a 2 pound loaf which requires approx 1.5 cups starter). As it runs down. I'll use a cup or two to start a new batch. I know at some point ambient strains may overtake the original culture, but that's the way it goes. I'll just order more and start over.

Looks like it will be a great starter, after day 4, it overflowed from the jar. I live in Central Texas, and using the 90 plus degree proofing box proves to be too much. I did this one at room temperature, 78F, near a West facing window, and it turned out perfect. I have a homemade starter from my kitchen, and the French starter, and so far this is a stronger sour smelling starter. I will update as time goes on.

Used this starter and the book Ed Wood wrote about sourdough. First loaf was perfect! France, Italy, Saudi Arabia...see you soon, little yeasty beasties!

Very happy with purchase

works great.