Living Dough - Soviet Rye Sourdough Starter Culture - Active & Live Organic Sourdough Starter for Baking - For Artisanal Bread, Pizza Dough, Waffles & More

I’m really impressed with this living sourdough starter. It arrived fresh, healthy, and already bubbling. You can tell it comes from a long-standing 75-year-old culture because it becomes active fast and has a really rich aroma. I fed it once, and it doubled in size with no problem. My bread came out soft on the inside with a perfect crust and a nice tangy flavor. I’ve tried other starters before, but this one was by far the most reliable and easiest to maintain. It’s great for beginners but also good if you already bake and just want a strong, well-established starter. Definitely worth it if you want authentic sourdough without the hassle of starting from scratch!

Fantastic starter. The instructions were clear, easy to follow and effective. I was able to start making einkorn sourdough bread within about a week. It was pretty much foolproof since the starter is well established and was obviously active and healthy upon opening the jar.

I am new to baking sourdough bread. I spent a good amount of time reading reviews in my search for a source to purchase sourdough starter. Living Dough had the most positive reviews and I am so happy that I purchased their 233 year old San Francisco starter! The starter arrived sooner than expected and the seller included a very helpful instruction sheet which definitely helped me know what to do once the starter arrived at our home! In addition, a recipe is included on their website and this is the only recipe that I've used so far...with amazing results! I have used a variety of three organic flours (bread, all-purpose and whole wheat) and also added some soaked raisins and sprinkled cinnamon on the buttered toast slices...the starter is happy and active and I've enjoyed using the refrigerated unfed starter to make crackers and pancakes. The texture of the bread is perfect and tangy with a chewy on the inside with a crispy crust. The loaf of bread is a good size and sturdy enough to easily slice after fully cooling from the baking process. You can succeed with the right tools and this sourdough starter has made all the difference in my new baking adventure!

When my 900-year-old sourdough starter arrived, it was very watery and clearly hungry from its long journey. With a little patience, care, and love, I fed it faithfully and watched it slowly come back to life. After three days, it fully activated—bubbly, strong, and full of character. The reward was incredible. I baked the most delicious and perfectly textured sourdough bread, with a beautiful rise, crisp crust, and rich, deep flavor that only a well-aged starter can give. It truly felt like baking with living history. An amazing experience for any sourdough lover who values tradition, patience, and exceptional results

Extremely active from the start. Perfect for a beginner like me. Followed 3 days of daily feeding; super active on day 2. My first time making bread and overall was easy to use. Results in photos. First two loaves ever made. Bread rose and came out crispy and toasty. Super yummy with just this starter plus King Arthur organic white flour. Will experiment with other grains next. Overall highly recommend to others.

Got this as a Christmas gift for my dad, who's a *very* experienced sourdough baker. Unfortunately, earlier this year, the 3 sourdough starters he made from scratch and had for MONTHS died because of a medical event, and I could tell he wasn't showing how upset he was about it. For about 6 months now, he's made at least a loaf of bread a week, but has yet to make sourdough because of the extra work it can be. He loved this!! I was really surprised at the quality of the product; the container looks nice, and it comes with printed, thorough instructions on quality paper, making it very giftable!! Also, the company is so professional and customer-oriented that they guarantee SUCCESS and have a personal email for questions, which is very rare. I forgot to take a picture, but we made a loaf, and it came out great. It had a good flavor and baked perfectly; we were very happy with the results. Highly recommend! :)

Activated quickly although directions could have been written better.

I couldn't help but be curious about a long living starter! I decided to go with the oldest one. It shipped promptly, and arrived sooner than expected. It was well packaged. The seal on the jar was intact. When it hissed open I was met with a rich aroma. I got roughly 60 grams of starter and fed it at 1:1:1 with unbleached bread flour. Very quickly I was seeing activity and a healthy rise. There was lots of active bubbling to be seen! The first time around took about 6 hours to peak, give or take. Every 1:1:1 feeding after that had it doubling and then peaking in less than 4 in my warm kitchen. I fed it peak to peak 3 times before I baked with it. The first loaf turned out beautifully! The rise in the dough was quick and consistent. I did have medium rye for 1/6th of the flour and the rest bread flour, all King Arthur Organic Unbleached. The rye does get a faster rise, but this is my usual blend and this rose noticeably faster. The dough smelled heavenly. It did have its own distinct characteristics in smell. It was fascinating to see how this starter behaved in comparison to my previous starter. Even during the long cold proofing my loaf rose a bit more with this strain. Everything looked and felt good. Definitely had a distinct higher performance. I finally got my loaf into the oven. The oven spring on the loaf was very good! The crumb was lovely. Even though I served it before it fully cooled it was still fluffy and light. The bread had delicious and distinct aromatics! This starter certainly has character. I asked the seller about this strains origins and history. They responded quickly with some really interesting information! I was so jazzed to read about it. This strain in particular is in a European Sourdough Museum (Belgium, I believe) . I'm going to look into that museum to see if I can see what details their testing found. Since this strain has some early origin lore in Wales, I had to think of a proper name. Since legends say that's where Merlin came from, I felt I needed to honor that. Since I already have a strain named Sir Lanceloaf (Since I use King Arthur flour mostly) i had to tie it all together. As I watched the starter rising it occurred to me. I named it Excalibread. If you're even the mildest bit curious, or just starting your own Sourdough Journey, I cannot recommend this brand enough. I can't recommend this strain enough! It's a powerful and healthy little starter! I was so pleased with my loaf that I decided to let Sir Lanceloaf take a fridge vacation and I'll be maintaining Excalibread on the counter for the foreseeable future. It was such a great experience all around. So, allow me to be the little Amazon devil on your shoulder, add to cart!!!