San Francisco Sourdough Starter Culture- 100+ Year Old Dehydrated Heirloom Style Sourdough Starter Kit for Sourdough Bread, Pizza, Buns, Pancakes, Muffins | Easy to follow instructions. By Captain Sourpants

I rehydrated this Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter and was pleasantly surprised by how reliably it came back to life. I’m in Southern California, and it took about 3 days of consistent feeding to become clearly active, which felt very reasonable for a gluten-free starter. Once established, it showed good fermentation: visible rise, lots of fine bubbles, and that pleasantly tangy, yogurt-like aroma you want in a healthy starter. As expected with gluten-free starters, it doesn’t behave exactly like a wheat starter (it collapses more quickly and doesn’t hold structure in the same way), but it’s clearly strong and active when fed appropriately. Overall, this is a perfect option if you want a dependable gluten-free sourdough starter without having to build one from scratch. With patience and proper feeding ratios, it becomes a very usable and consistent starter for gluten-free sourdough baking.

Absolutely love! Shipping was fast but also the starter is amazing itself! I tried doing a homemade starter but grew impatient. The directions are so easy and basically fool proof. I’m on day 5 and since day 3 it has been rising and falling how it should be, doubling if not more! Tonight I’m trying to make bread for the first time and we’ll see how it goes! Smell is perfect, sour but fresh and so bubbly and active ! I know I may be jumping the gun trying out the bread this early, but based on all my research it’s promising hence the activity and rising time in the starter!

Wonderful sourdough starter. Clear, concise instructions. Produced a fresh, sticky, active sourdough starter which ultimately led to a delicious loaf of bread.

I've tried doing sourdough before but I couldn't make it work after many attempts on my own. I used this 100 year-old San Francisco starter and I was on my way! I still have half of that package left but once I got the starter going I've been baking ever since. It worked very well! It was easy to do too. There are many videos on YouTube if you want to see someone make the starter in action

This starter is exactly as advertised. I needed to use three different starters though, and let me tell you why so you don’t make the same mistakes I made. The first batch of starter barely grew and developed a slight acetone smell after a week of trying. I contacted the seller and they were amazing. They explained that my problem was probably environmental and they were right. It had been on my kitchen counter and the temperature fluctuated too much, so they asked me to try again, and I did. The second batch was done in the oven with the oven light on. This was the perfect temperature and after four days it was ready to use, but my housemate accidentally turned on the oven destroying my batch. So the next idea was to cover the stove controls with post it notes, The third batch was amazing! The post it notes helped in a household where multi people use appliances and prevents any oopsies. On the fourth day, I made focaccia because my dough was too soft, had it sit in the refrigerator for three days and allowed it to proof before I baked it. It had a wonderful flavor and texture, I used an inverted cookie sheet with a pan of water on top to seal in the steam, and it stuck to the bottom, so next time I will use a sheet of parchment paper Then I made an actual round loaf in my very inexpensive dutch oven. I used a small kitchen bowl lined with flour and cheesecloth, covered it to make the right size loaf, nothing fancy, nothing expensive, and let it cure in the refrigerator for three days, I put parchment paper in a warm Dutch oven and baked it to a golden brown. It made great grilled cheese sandwiches. Nice flavor, mildly tangy. Now my third batch is jumbo cupcake size sour dough rounds for Christmas dinner. Those are prepared in a 9*13 pan with giant cupcake papers. It will also cure for three days, proof and then bake it to a golden brown brown. The starter that I have stored in my fridge activates almost immediately and is ready to use the same day I feed it. Fantastic starter

I was interested in trying sourdough, but I didn't want to spend weeks nurturing a starter from scratch with so-so odds of success. Instead I bought a packet of Captain Sourpants starter culture, and that was a SMART MOVE. The instructions are so simple to follow. I could see visible bubbling about three days in, and it seemed like the activity ramped up steadily from that point on. By day 7 it was doubling so nicely in a matter of hours that I decided to give it a try, and I got a beautiful bake from it. I have my second batch of dough bulk fermenting as we speak. This is a fantastic product if you want to get into sourdough but feel intimidated by the starter process.

If you leave a review it activates a warranty in case your starter does not work. I am unsure of the efficacy of this starter just yet, but in order to get the warranty I am filling out this form. So far good presentation, and okayish written directions on how to get the starter activated. Could be more clearly worded or reorganized for flow from start to finish.

It activated fine ..Had to buy it twice...the first one, I made a series of mistakes, the cover, location, etc..and it turned pink...had to toss it ..second time I ordered I followed the instructions, fixed the previous issues... And now it is super strong ... It is 5 mos old now and doing very well.. makes great bread... For those who couldn't get it to activate...your doing something wrong.. pick 1 flour and stick with it ..I use King Arthur All Purpose...if your house is below 67⁰ F it's going to be sluggish.. get a warming plate...set it between 72-75⁰F and it will thrive.. follow the instructions...after that first week feed it peak to peak ..at a 1:3:2 ratio...

This sourdough starter did not disappoint. It was doubling and bubbling within 36 hours and ready for baking on day 3! I have to give a shoutout to the customer service agent who was quick to answer my questions and assure me that I was doing all the right things. I would definitely recommend this starter to anyone who wants to try baking sourdough bread.

Perfect!

First-time sourdough guy here. I wasn’t expecting to write a glowing review of dried microbes... and yet, here we are. This starter worked brilliantly. All it needed was a jar, an appropriate cover, and some flour and water. It revived quickly, smelled alive and tangy by Day 2, and led to a proper, honest-to-goodness sourdough loaf I was proud to slice into. But what really impressed me was the customer support. On Day 1, I sent a quick message to the seller with a photo and a “Not sure I’m doing this right?” question. Fifteen minutes later, I received a kind, detailed reply from someone named Heli, who clearly knew their stuff and genuinely wanted to help. Different flours and absorption rates are a thing, apparently. Their guidance helped get my starter on track, and the follow-up made it clear this wasn't a one-off. That kind of support gave me real confidence going into my first bake. What I liked: - Fast, consistent fermentation once it got going - Clear and usable instructions - Thoughtful, responsive customer service (not a bot!) - Clean, organic ingredients (brown rice flour, AP flour, wild yeast) - Arrived well packaged What to know: - It’s not the cheapest starter out there, but the quality and support easily justify the price - Like all sourdough, it still needs a bit of love—don’t expect set-it-and-forget-it results (but if you’re here, you probably already know that) Bottom line: If you’re new to sourdough and want to skip the mess of building a starter from scratch, this is a reliable, beginner-friendly option that still feels authentic. My dough rose beautifully and baked like a dream. For seasoned bakers, this could be a great backup or a way to try a different regional flavour. Either way, I highly recommend it. Solid 5 stars.

NOTHING compares to the strength of these starters! TL;DR version - THE STARTERS ARE MORE COST EFFECTIVE/BETTER THAN MAKING YOUR OWN! We tried the mature and gluten free ones and they’re amazing! Long version - Don’t waste your money/time, or risk damaging your mental health/confidence trying to make your own - the price of the mature starter ($13.99) was cheaper than what it cost for the 2 bags of all-purpose and 1 bag of bread flour (all $8.99/5kg bag in NS) to try and establish a homemade one. We followed the provided instructions to the letter, and the mature one was doubling within 24hrs. Due to low confidence caused by the failing at making our own, we didn’t bake with this one until it hit the 7 days just to make sure it was actually active and stable. It was! First attempt to bake with the mature one - took the amount we needed and as soon as we introduced more air, it took off and grew to double again. Our sandwich bread was never this light and fluffy, but using the mature starter, my 15yo son doesn’t want to eat anything but sourdough bread now. We tried putting 20g of the mature starter (fed at 1:3:2 Starter:Flour:Water) in the fridge for a week - it grew in the fridge, and then grew to double that size as it warmed. This photo was this morning, fed once at 1:1:1 last night after warming for 6hrs from being in the fridge, and it’s still growing now after taking some off to bake. “Doughpalite” is definitely “dancing through the lightening strikes” and “sleepless in the onyx night” in the fridge. It certainly didn’t suffer “The Fate of ‘Doughphelia’” (my homemade starter). After the raging success of the mature starter - we tried the gluten free (GF) one too, also following the instructions to the letter. The GF starter, is almost as amazing as the mature starter. It was doubling within 2 days, and it consistently doubles when fed every 24hrs at 1:3:2.5 (S:F:W). We also tried putting GF in the fridge, storing 50g at 1:1:1, and as soon as it came out of the fridge, it rose and doubled. “Elizabread Taylor Sift” has made some yummy GF bread and GF muffins - best tasting/closest texture to wheat/gluten ones I’ve had. Thank you for sharing your starters and allowing us the opportunity to succeed at making sourdough (because I was truly on the verge of giving up).

I have been trying to make my own but am unable. Lol. I ordered this and started it today. Tomorrow I will know more. But instructions are very clear, easy to understand. Packing is beautiful. Well update on starter. Absolutely perfect, it's working great and looking forward to baking with it soon!!