Name: Azure Husbandry Bread for Life Starter, Refrigerated
Brand: My Store
SKU: BP317
Price: 17.82 USD
Availability: InStock

Sourdough bread has been around for thousands of years—the ancients had it right all along! Sourdough has more nutrients and is easier to digest than bread made with baker’s yeast. Plus, it contains less gluten than other breads, and many with gluten sensitivities find they can still enjoy its distinctive delicious taste.

Our sourdough starter comes in a pint jar containing nothing but organic hard red wheat flour, water, and the living plant bacteria that make it so special. You can use it for bread, pizza crust—even waffles and pancakes! For more uses, watch the video below that we put together and see our Bread of Life recipes.

Bread for Life starter is different from typical sourdough starters. It’s much sweeter and makes a fluffy, beautifully textured bread, much like sandwich bread. Unlike most starters, which contain anaerobic bacteria and can be left on the counter, our starter contains aerobic bacteria which need to be refrigerated. None of this starter needs to be dumped out, and the “float test” isn’t accurate either; it will sink.

Organic
Non-GMO
Product of the USA
Keep refrigerated
Contains approx ½ cup of starter (jar not full to allow expansion)

Azure Market products are re-packaged by Azure for your convenience in a facility that meets Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) standards, including an approved allergen control program.

****The starter we are selling right now was started in May 2024.. ****

For questions, email: contactbreadforlife@gmail.com

Customer Testimonials:

"First of all, I’m a convert. My first loaf was gorgeous and I didn’t expect that at all. It was also delicious. I’ve been working with a failing starter for a few months now and have been miserably disappointed with both texture and flavor. So...I did a side by side test loaf with both starters just to see the difference and was very impressed with the one from you. It far exceeded my expectations."

"It is so nice to be able to eat bread! One friend, who gets joint pain from gluten, is able to eat this bread without any pain."

"I greatly appreciate Azure's sourdough starter and sprouted spelt flour. Because of some health problems I eat a whole foods, plant based diet without gluten. One day while shopping at azure I read about preparing wheat breads the ancient way, with a starter. I tried making and eating it and I felt great! I shared it with other friends who normally can't tolerate wheat and they enjoyed it also. I am so happy to learn about an ancient way of preparing food that is better for my body."

"We have been enjoying making your sourdough bread immensely!! Quiet a few of our family's various health troubles have improved since we eliminated yeast bread!"

" I've used lots of different natural leavening methods and yours is by far the least sour, hands down!"

" I’ve made so many yummy breads with the starter! I’m attempting English muffins tonight. I’ve been making our sandwich bread the past few weeks and yesterday, my husband told me that the bread was the most delicious bread he’s had. I just want to thank you for encouraging me and for such a great little starter!

"I'm so excited to have found your Bread For Life starter!!!! It is sooooo much easier to maintain and to use than traditional sourdough. You wouldn't believe all the time and effort I spent over the last month or so trying to make sourdough starter and sourdough bread the traditional way. It is a HUGE amount of work and after much trial and error the loaves of bread I baked weren't even that great. Very dense and tough to cut and to chew. It totally WAS NOT worth it! But your starter is so much easier to use, and results in such a wonderful end product, that I am amazed and very very grateful. And the fact that the grains are so thoroughly fermented is so much healthier. One supremely appreciative and grateful customer!"

" I just wanted to tell you how much of a huge blessing this starter has been!! It is growing great and has made absolutely delicious bread- I was expecting it to be like a wheat brick considering it is basically just flour and water in the recipe and could not believe how fantastic the bread is!!! Truly such a blessing to have found such a simple and healthy bread option that tastes amazing! "

Directions

Once received, this starter must be "fed" to stay alive. Pour starter into a clean bowl and add ¼ cup pure, non-chlorinated water and approx. ⅓ cup of hard red wheat flour. This is a suggested amount, but use less flour/water (as little as 1 Tbl. water/flour) if you don't want your starter to build up too quicly and if you don't plan to bake often. Mix together well and pour back into a clean quart (or larger) jar. The starter will rise in the jar, so allow enough room for rising. Feed daily and KEEP REFRIGERATED! As your starter amount increases to 1 ½–2 cups, you can begin feeding it up to 1 cup water and 1 cup flour (or a little more) as stated in the video or you can continue feeding it the smaller amount to avoid getting too much starter. Try to get the consistency similar to cake/muffin batter - pourable, but not thin and runny or thick and ploppy. Add more or less flour when feeding to achieve this consistency.

NOTE: Starter must be fed within 2–3 days of receipt and kept refrigerated, especially if shipped a long distance on our trucks. Any separation of liquid from the starter is normal. Brownish liquid on the starter is normal as well. Just feed with water and flour as described above. To revive the starter more quickly after it is has traveled on the Azure truck, try feeding it morning and night for a few days. You can feed it less each time (as little as 1 Tbl. water/lfour) if you don't want your starter to build up too quickly.. Feed it an amount that works for your baking needs.

Recipe for one loaf of bread:

1 cup starter (cold out of the fridge)
1 cup pure, non-chlorinated water
1 tsp. salt, preferably Celtic or Himalayan (optional)
3–4 cups whole grain flour

Mix ingredients together, kneading well. Let sit in a covered bowl until size has doubled (approx. 4–6 hours). Form loaf and put in oiled loaf pan. Let sit until size has doubled again (another hour or so). Bake at 325 degrees for 40–43 minutes.

For best results use the following Hard Red Wheat Berries or Flour to feed your Bread Starter.

GR061/GR063 Azure Farm Wheat, Hard, Red, Organic (Berries) 25 lbs. and 50 lbs. (Wheat berries will need to be ground into flour before use.)
GR062 Azure Farm Wheat, Hard, Red, Organic (Berries) 5 lbs. (Wheat berries will need to be ground into flour before use.)
FL068 Azure Farm Hard Red W.W. Flour (Unifine), Organic 50 lbs.
FL069 Azure Farm Hard Red W.W. Flour (Unifine), Organic 25 lbs.
FL011/FL023 Azure Farm Hard Red W.W. Flour (Unifine), Organic 10 lbs. and 5 lbs.

Other flours, such as hard white wheat, spelt, einkorn, emmer, or kamut, work great for making bread and will also work okay for feeding the starter, though the starter reacts the best to hard red wheat flour. This starter does not work well when fed gluten-free flours, but if you don't have a serious gluten allergy, we encourage you to try this starter! Feed it hard red wheat flour to keep it healthy and strong, then make the bread with spelt flour (which has a lower gluten content) and maybe a little gluten-free flour. If you can handle the bread fine, then gradually add more gluten flour to the bread dough and see how it goes. Most people who think they are allergic to gluten find they can eat this bread when it's made with regular hard red, hard white, kamut, or einkorn flours. It is best to increase the gluten content gradually so the flora in the gut can work up to handle the bread.

Ingredients

bread for life starter