Italian (Ischia Island and Camaldoli) Sourdough Cultures Unknown Binding

Can be a bit overwhelming at first if one has never done this before. Ed Wood's included instructions are thorough and "spot on". Both proofed perfectly despite this bumble futz's best efforts to kill the live cultures. A NO NO - I put them in the freezer for 2 days a NO NO. I proofed as directed. They came out well. I used the Ischia Island proof for my first loaf. It was excellent. Most highly recommended.

Having a great time with my sourdough cultures! The Ischia is a bit more sour than the Camaldoli -- Ischia tastes a bit like San Fran sourdough -- but both have made great bread and pizza dough.The sourdoughs come with a 3 page set of instructions that I found the instructions to be unnecessarily complex. They make sourdough seem way more complicated than it is. Proofing box, contamination, "washing". These are all relevant topics, but probably overkill for an instruction sheet.Get the packets. Place in large tupperware (1 gallon). Mix packet with 1 cup flour and 1/2 to 3/4 cup filtered or bottled water. Place in oven with light turned on. Feed again every 12 hours or so until the mix bubbles up several inches after 3-4 hours in the oven (should happen in 1-3 days).Once it bubbles up regularly after a feeding, place 2 cups in a loosely covered mason jar in the fridge. Use the rest for baking.Feed the mason jar once per week with flour/water to keep it vital. It won't die if you don't feed it, but you won't be able to use it right away without reviving it.

One of my favorite of Ed Wood's starters. I use Mulino Caputo Tipo one flour to feed it and the results are absolutely great! Caputo sources their grain from Italy where its milled, and from a few other European sources. Caputo flour is available on Amazon in many of their different grades (tipo). it's like this starter from Italy knew it was being fed flour from Italy and took off right from the get go an I've been making wonderful sourdough ever since!

I bought these two cultures along with Ed's book. The packets arrived on time.This was my first time working with a sourdough culture. So I thought I'd give a short description of my experience, in case it is helpful to another newbie. On the surface, re-activation seems easy enough, and if everything goes perfect, maybe it is. But here's my reality. I carefully followed the re-activation instructions, amounts, temps, everything to a T. I bought brand new bags of "King Arthur" flour. The following morning I discovered that both of my cultures had an awful smell indicating that they had been attacked by outside organisms. Apparently, this is not uncommon and, I've learned, is due to the bacteria found in all commercial flour. This led me down the path of having to do a culture 'wash' and resulted in my cultures not being fully active for almost 2 weeks. (FYI, the Ischia Island culture activated several days before the Camaldoli - I almost gave up on the Camaldoli). When I saw signs of the culture beginning to activate (bubbles) I split each culture into two jars (as recommended). This meant feeding 4 jars of culture 3/4 cup of flour every 12 hours. Just be aware, you're going to go through a lot of flour. Each time you feed your culture, you discard a portion, so a lot of flour and water goes into the trash. The instructions say that activation takes between 3 - 5 days, but for me, that wasn't the case.As for the instructions, I agree with one of the other reviewers who said they are unnecessarily complex. And sometimes even unclear. I'm technical by trade and I read a lot of manuals and I found myself re-reading sections of these instructions several times to try understand their intent. This is one of the reasons I'm not giving this a 5 star rating.So, as of this morning, I have both cultures fully active. I'll be baking my first loaves this weekend. I've done a fair amount of baking with store bought yeast, so we'll see how it goes. I've fully read Ed's book and I plan to use some of his recipes. I'm crossing my fingers hoping that all of the effort will be worth it. If I think of it, I'll report back on how it goes.Update: This past weekend I used recipes from Ed's book and made two sourdough loaves (one from each culture), then using the Ischia culture (because I happened to have a ton of it) I made the cinnamon rolls, yukon pancakes, gingerbread waffles, and several pizzas. The pancakes were too dense and heavy - no one liked them very much. Also, I was disappointed with the loaves, but I blame myself (user error - I won't go into it), however, the rolls, waffles and pizzas were excellent!

Tried both. Neither worked. Terrible and brief directions were closely followed.

Makes a beautiful culture, I have had mine for 2 months now, I make pizza two or three times per week, and the taste is superior to anything I have found, gives real depth of flavor. I lived in Naples, Italy for 2 years and this product takes me back to some old familiar flavors. I am addicted. Thank you.

So far, I've only activated the Ischia packet. As long as you follow the enclosed instructions, you will have a wonderful sourdough starter bubbling along before you know it. I've made pizza and bread using this as my leavening agent and have had rich, creamy, sourdough-ey flavor!

Very good and mild...floral. Easy to activate. Cultured with vita spelt flour. I did not activate the ischia.