Bakerdale Organic Rye

Fist off I am skeptical of buying starters in a package because I have been having so much trouble doing it myself. So I just got this and followed the instructions to a tee "Day-1" Added the packet, the correct amount of water and rye flour. Well, it's starting off poorly as the mix was a blob the consistency of cement when mixed! I will see tomorrow when feeding it again will do any better but I doubt it! I live at 5200 ft in Colorado and it can get very dry so I added a bit more water on Day -2. At Day 5 It fianlly showed bubbles and activity. This really works but you have to be paitient. Now it begs for a feeding every day as it alway's rises nearly double or 2-1/2 times. Great stuff!! Note: using sourdough starter is tricky at a mile high. There is as much pressure to offer during the rising phase by using straight starter, so you have to add some active yeast to the flour before adding the levan.. I also use a higher oven temp like 500 degrees.

This dried starter produced great smelling and rising sourdough almost from the beginning. Just a few days initial feeding needed, since then always rises great, smells great, even if I forget feeding on one day. Just baked my first 100% whole rye bread with the new starter, and it is absolutely delicious. Fully recommend.

Followed the instructions, absolutely no growth, done similar with actual live yeast before, it's not that hard, but this powdered stuff seems to be DOA for me. Maybe a bad batch, who knows? Waste of time and money. Hopefully others have better luck.

Worked perfectly and immediately. By morning, it was all bubbly and smelling great. (Mixed it with whole rye flour and water the night before).

You can resuscitate these granules with no effort at all. Feed the culture afterward with the same routine that you'd use with any sourdough starter. Also – no need to use all of the package at once. Hold some back in a ziplock bag up to a year or so as insurance against a disaster.

It takes some patience and following instructions to revive. After that it is very active, smells great and has good sour taste. Being sour is required to make enzymes work properly in rye dough, especially with malt recipes. Pictures speak for themselves. Absolutely what I needed.

I've created my own starter before, but I wanted a rye starter. But this kit didn't "start" at all - no evidence of activity after careful feeding for 4 days. Seller did not respond to emails.

I didn't really know what I was getting into, but followed the in luded instructions and my dough is doubling within 4 hours on day 4 in 68 degree weather and smells good. I made whole wheat pancakes with it on day 4 and they were great.