Can You Use Tap Water for a Sourdough Starter?
Most tap water works for a sourdough starter. Here is how chlorine and chloramine differ, what boiling cannot fix, and a simple test for your own water.
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Gluten-Free Sourdough English Muffins
Griddled gluten-free sourdough English muffins with a craggy, fork-split crumb, made with an active starter and psyllium husk and finished in the oven so the centers cook through.
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How to Make a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter
A day-by-day method for a gluten-free sourdough starter built from brown rice flour and filtered water, with feeding amounts in grams, what to expect each day and what to do when it stalls.
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How to Freeze a Sourdough Starter (and Keep It Alive While You Are Away)
A week away, a month away, or a whole season: here is how to rest your sourdough starter in the fridge or freezer, and how to wake it back up.
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Which Flour Should You Feed Your Sourdough Starter? All-Purpose, Bread, Whole Wheat, or Rye
Any wheat flour can feed a starter, but each one changes how fast it rises and how it tastes. Here is how to choose and how to switch without a setback.
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Levain vs. Starter: What Is the Difference and When Should You Build One?
Starter and levain are close cousins that often get mixed up. Here is the difference, why a levain is worth building, and three easy builds.
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Stiff Starter vs. Liquid Starter: How Hydration Changes Your Sourdough
Most starters are fed at 100% hydration, but a thicker starter behaves differently. Here is how hydration changes speed, flavor and storage, and how to convert yours.
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How to Tell When Your Starter Is Ready to Bake With
Your starter has a peak, and baking at the right moment makes a real difference. Here is how to spot it with a rubber band, your eyes and your nose.
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Sourdough Starter Feeding Ratios Explained: 1:1:1, 1:5:5, and 1:10:10
A feeding ratio is just three numbers. Here is what each common ratio does to your starter and how to choose the one that fits your schedule.
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Sourdough Starter Problems: Not Rising, Runny, or Smelling Off
Starter not rising, runny, or smelling like nail polish? Match your symptom to the cause and fix it, including the one reset that rescues a hungry starter.
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Baking Sourdough in Florida Heat and Humidity: Dough, Starter, and Storage
Humid, hot kitchen? Fix fast fermentation, a hungry starter, sticky dough, and bread that goes soft or moldy, with fixes tested in a South Florida kitchen.
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Lesson #7: Your Starter’s Part of the Family Now: Keeping It Fed and Using the Extra
Seven days in, you’ve got a starter and a whole new skill. Here’s how it lives on after this course ends.
