Buy our White Sourdough Starter Kit & Course – we have 100 starters available to pre-order, however we expect to release more later in the year. Pre-order now.
White Starter – sweet yogurt-like flavours – our original sourdough starter
My French white starter is one that I have been using since I was 11 year old and originates in the bakery I grew up baking with in France. It takes a bit longer to reach its peak and is generally slower and sweeter, and much more forgiving of being neglected for a week, so is the one I recommend for beginners.
I have verbal confirmation that the starter originated over 115 years ago and has been maintained ever since…it’s a lovely story. Although the microbes double every 20 – 30 minutes when they are refreshed…so it is either over a century old or 30 minutes old depending on how you want look at it.
The kit contains:
- 50g of white starter – FREE
- A 600ml ceramic storage jar with lid
- Sourdough School White Starter label
- 1kg strong white flour
- 5 Sourdough printed cards – Basic Recipe, Loaf record, Loaf schedule, White Starter, Tasting/Flavour wheel
- Sourdough Starter Course on how to refresh and look after your starter (RRP £24.99)
- Optional – you can add to this a signed copy of ‘The Sourdough School’ book should you wish to.
We are always asked if it is possible to buy our sourdough starter, but because it is basically organic flour, water and wild yeast naturally occurring in the flour we decided it was important to give it away for free.
Microbial Composition
In January 2017 our beautiful Sourdough School’s French white sourdough starter, derived from the original French starter from the bakery I grew up baking in, was analysed by the Puratos Sourdough Library in Belgium. This analysis revealed that it contained one dominant yeast and several kinds of LAB, which is typical of the make –up
- Yeast = Saccharomyces Cerevisiae
- Lactobacillus kimchii
- Lactobacillus sanfrenciscensis
- Lactobacillus acidifarinae
REFRESH STRAIGHT AWAY
The starter will need refreshing the moment you get it, as it will have been travelling from The Sourdough School to you. Please use the flour that comes as part of your kit.
Please go to How to Refresh Your Starter for detailed instructions and video and/or print off our PDF Refreshing A Sourdough Starter.
You can follow our Basic Sourdough Recipe online
You can learn how to make sourdough with Vanessa Kimbell at The Sourdough School, or you can learn to make sourdough online at The Sourdough Club.
* Please note that our sourdough starters are ONLY posted out when we are able to make them. We build the starter here at the School to ensure each starter is in peak condition and at its most active. The rest of your kit will be sent at the same time as the starter.
* IT IS ESSENTIAL that when you receive your starter it is refreshed immediately in accordance with the instructions
* For best results, continue to refresh your starter using the recommended flour. Using a different flour can alter the microbial composition of the starter and may affect its level of activity.
Although we are based in the UK it can be shipped to Europe and the USA on the fastest delivery available.
