Ppl give me side-eye for keeping my sourdough starter to myself

They say sharing is key, but after a friend's loaf failed, I disagree. It's about quality control, not being selfish.

3 comments

3 Comments

Totally get it, sharing a bit of the starter is fine but giving away your whole jar is asking for trouble. Every kitchen has its own wild yeast floating around and a different feeding routine, so your perfect starter might act totally different at their place. I just keep a backup jar in my fridge and give people a spoonful of that with very clear instructions. Their results are on them after that point, not your problem. Sourdough is a living thing and it gets picky about temperature and care.

mia521mo ago

Come on, sharing the whole jar is the nice way to do it. That spoonful you give might just die on them if they're new and mess up the first feeding. A big batch gives it a fighting chance to adjust to their kitchen. If it acts different, that's fine, they can learn to work with it like we all did. Being so careful takes the fun out of passing a starter along.

xena8581mo ago

I used to worry about starters acting different like adams.vera said, but @mia52 is right that a bigger share gives new people room to learn without stress.