This kit comes with a FREE pot of sweet chocolate sourdough starter. It is refreshed using organic cocoa powder and sugar, which encourages osmotolerance from the yeasts – this can be helpful when making sweet sourdough. The starter is refreshed using soft organic 00 flour milled near the Alps in Northern Italy, by famers who care deeply about the soil and the land, and by 3rd generation millers who take extraordinary care to mill this exquisite flour with the same care with which the farmers grow their grain. In November 2017 after a couple of years of using this chocolate starter it was sent to be analysed. Looking at the species below it is clear to see that the complex flavours and ability of this starter to come around beautifully, even when slightly neglected, is down to the range of bacteria originating from the chocolate and cocoa.
What kind of sourdough can I make using a chocolate starter?
You can make any bread with this starter. This robust starter can be used to leaven any bread whatsoever but we particularly love this starter with the rye formula on page 127 of The Sourdough School book, and the Chocolate & Roast Hazelnut recipe on page 145. It is beautifully lactic and makes deliciously sweet sourdough but don’t limit it to the ones we suggest in the book. Cacao works as a beautiful background flavour, but it also brings specific lactic acid bacteria that thrive in warmer temperatures. Cocoa fermentation takes place 10 degrees either side of the Equator because cocoa trees grow well in humid tropical climates with regular rains and a short dry season.
Chocolate starter Lactic Acid Bacteria microbial analysis.