Cultures for Health Gluten Free Sourdough Starter | Heirloom Dehydrated Culture for Baking Gluten Free Bread | DIY Pasta, Pizza Dough, Pie Crust, & More | Non-GMO Prebiotic Sourdough Bread

The quality of the culture is GREAT! Directions are not accurate on how to properly start the culture on the packaging. BE SURE TO CHECK THE WEBSITE for proper activation of your sourdough starter! Be prepared to read the directions and plan for what to do with the discard. You definitely don't want to waste it! It does take some work and dedication to get great results but it's worth it. Be SURE to PREPARE before embarking on the starter "journey". It's like having a baby in the house or a new puppy. You have to be sure you have the time to watch it and attend to it for many days before use. We are first time starter makers and now we have a ton of discard to use and share with friends! The company is very attentive and responds VERY quickly to support your sourdough journey... EVEN THO it's just kind of disappointing to start a culture with the packaging directions that are not together, The folks at, "Cultures For Health", are going to address the packaging directions, so I give them 5 STARS! This company has a lot of other really great fermentation options like Kefir and more to choose from as well. A good resource for folks looking for quality! WE LOVE CULTURES FOR HEALTH!

Final update: Seller had actually sent a message saying “reply to this message with ‘full refund’ if you would like a full refund.” I replied as such. Seller asked for details about my sourdough process. After multiple back and forths and my prompting they said they actually were not issuing a refund because I’m still working on my starter… what? lol. Huge waste of time and personally I’m never ordering from them again. Update: Seller gave me a refund :,( I feel terrible but I did try my best with it. I’m going to buy it again so I can hopefully get it started and give this five stars. I’ve been really hesitant to write a review, because it could be something on my end. However, I feel I’ve tried EVERYTHING and haven’t gotten this starter to work. I followed the directions exactly and didn’t have a working starter after a week. At a certain point (after the week) I added less water so it could hold bubbles better and I could see if it was growing. I’ve since tried two different bottled waters, mainly spring, multiple flours, including whole wheat and multiple methods of warming the starter. Currently I’ve been using unbleached AP at a 1:1:1 ratio, with the proofing setting on my toaster at 85 degrees and feeding consistently at either the 12 hour mark or the 24 hour mark (trying to figure out when it would like to be fed). It bubbles a little bit and bubbles reach the surface eventually, say around the 12 hour mark and by that point it’s basically more liquid than solid, I can pour it like liquid into the trash when it’s time to discard (starts out like thick pancake batter). However, in that 12 hours it grows maybe a fifth (and that’s after like 6 hours and also where it stops). I’m now adding rye to see if that will get it going. Anyways, POINT IS: It’s been over a month now and even if it eventually starts growing properly (which I’m hoping it will) I can’t say the starter I originally purchased had anything to do with it. I’m pretty sure I just created my own starter for $13. One thing I will say is it never went through the early doubling phase that happens when starting your own starter and it never smelled bad. So maybe it was alive, I don’t know - but it didn’t work as advertised and I’m pretty annoyed at this point thinking I probably could’ve had more luck starting my own fresh starter three weeks ago… I don’t know.

This was easy to get started, and I was able to make my first loaf within a week. My first loaf was a bit too dense, but with a few adjustments I had a near-perfect second loaf. We are also having a blast with making discard recipes. Excited for the tang to develop in the coming months! A great beginner-friendly product.

I have recently found out I have celiac therefore wanting to try this gluten-free starter (did use brown rice flour as recommend) also I used warm water, which has definitely helped. I have used warm water with previous starters that I made from scratch before I needed to go gluten-free.. Honestly, I did not believe this would work because so little comes in the packet, surprisingly on day three which is quick I had a double rise. Have not baked with it yet however, I’m off to a good start. I do recommend this starter to anyone just beginning

Purchased this product and follow the instruction but unfortunately no sourdough mother. I had made my own sourdough before and it worked. Not sure if what I got was good quality mother. Waste of money. Wish I could give it zero star. Gonna start my own process as this was unsuccessful, n wasted my money!

I bought this starter 2 years ago and it worked like any other starter I have created from scratch in the past. Bake for 1.5 years with it until i got lazy and let it die. So I’m back for another purchase as its easier than scratching one out. What some of the one star reviews need to realize is all starters take time to bring to their prime due to room temperatures, lack of availability good bacteria (by keeping your starter sealed and not loosely contained and a solid healthy feeding routine. As this starter comes dehydrated, it may need more than a week to hit it’s prime so just keep feeding it daily and making sure it’s stirred multiple times a day to help incorporate thise natural bacterias around it. One way or another it will come alive if its 63-75 degrees in its surrounding environment and fed quality flour with a 12+% protein content at 1:1 ratio to water. One can increase feeding quantity as well. A starter flourishes in the right environment, you can grow a starter in “San Francisco” and send it to a friend in Michigan, and as the starter ages, it loses it’s “San Francisco” profile and gains a new profile based on its new surroundings and bacterias, and vice versa.

I have used this starter for many years, I have fed the starter and grown the starter from this co . many times! When I mentioned that I am familiar with their starter and I use it in my bakery, that this one specifically did not work and would not come alive no matter how much I fed it, given the fact that I have used all the same water, temperature etc. before, I figured they would understand that I was very educated on baking with their starter. I figured I would get a refund given that, their starter did not work. Their product was bad. When I mentioned this I got the runaround, I was asked 1 million questions, told that if I didn't answer the questions that nothing would be done, I told them I already answered your question When I mentioned that I am familiar with their starter and I use it in my bakery, that this one specifically did not work and would not come alive no matter how much I said it, given the fact that I have used all the same water, temperature etc. before, I figured they would understand that I was very educated on baking with their starter. I figured I would get a refund given that, their starter did not work. Their product was bad. When I mentioned this I got the runaround, I was asked 1 million questions, told that if I didn't answer the questions that nothing would be done, I told them I already answered your questions as I've used your starter before. That should be the biggest answer to your question, I'm not ignorant I know what I'm doing here and I do the same thing every time with your starter. This starter is dead. They still would not give me a refund, harassed me a little more and said just this one time they're gonna send me another starter! I would never order from this company again. And I sent them a lot of business through my bakery! Horrible customer service. When somebody simply asks for a refund and shows you proof that your starter doesn't work. You just do it or you're gonna lose a lot of business!

The instructions have you underfeeding in the last stages, which I am assuming is why a lot of these reviews are negative, stating that it doesn't work. The instructions state to reserve 1/2 cup starter and combine with 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water - it should be more like 1 cup of flour to give it at least a 1:1:1 feeding ratio. Anyone new to sourdough will not realize this, and the vague note about adding extra flour in the beginning of the instructions is not sufficient. Honestly embarrassed for this company, no wonder people think this product is a scam.