May 22, 2016 - 9:48am
Commercial sourdough starter?
Hello all,
I'm in Germany now for an extended work project. The sourdough starter here in the grocery stores (Globus) is sold in a plastic pouch, and costs around USD 0.30 per ounce.
I looked on King Arthur's website and they are selling sourdough starter for $9 per ounce.
Are these the same items? I have been surprised at the widespread availability of the sourdough starter here in Germany. The German bread culture is on another level compared with the US, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
I want to bake sourdough. My work schedule (lots and lots of travel) prohibits the time needed to build my own starter.
Thanks for any feedback.
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Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
What's the worst that can happen but a boring bland loaf.
Is the German starter rye or wheat?
That's quite a price difference but it's somewhat illusory. You should be able to use the store-bought starter as an inoculum to make more. With each batch of starter you make the per-ounce cost of the original starter drops.
You may want to make sure that you are dealing with an actual starter and not just flavor. I know that e.g.Seitenbacher sourdough 'extract' (which is sold in packs of 10 pouches if I remember correctly) is not a starter and requires that you use yeast in your bread.
going to the baker and order a day ahead of time (ask first if they have a sour culture they could sell you) sourdough starter from the bakery. 50g would be enough to feed and elaborate for a recipe easy enough. Even better is to bring your own container with your name on it.
While you're looking on the shelves in the grocery, look for "Brotgewürz" to flavour your rye breads. :)
And when you bring any Brotgewürz back to an English speaking country, write before you pack.. on the label... Roasted Bread spices. so they know you're not bringing back any bugs. Leave the packages sealed in original containers. And bring back some caraway too if you like it. Very hard to find ground caraway (or whole for that matter) outside of Europe.
:) Mini O rye-rebar
Thanks for the comments folks. I will read the package carefully, of the Sauerteig "sourdough" liquid.
When my work project ends and I make the last trip home to the US, I want to make a bread Zutaten "ingredients" grocery run. Roggenmehl and Dinkelvollkornmehl are top on my list of goodies.
My daily breakfast bread here is Dinkelvollkornbrot. Most of my lunches feature a Broetchen of some kind. Had a Roggenweck last week that was unbelievable.