Recommendations: Sourdough
We like this measuring cup because you can push sticky stuff out of it without
touching it with anything else (great for cultures where contamination is an
issue). Perfect for measuring honey, molasses,  yogurt starter, kefir grains or
sourdough starter.
Ingredients and Flavoring
A bowl with a pouring spout and nice grip on the handle and bottom - really
handy to have for mixing and pouring those batter mixes like pancakes. This
one holds 8 cups and even has measuring notches inside.
Supplies and Equipment
Literature
There are so many jars to choose from out there, but we recommend
thick-walled glass jars which offer more protection against explosion when
storing and bottling your ferments. Brands that make superb jars include Ball,
Kerr, Bormioli Rocco and Anchor Hocking. This pack is a good size to start out
with if you can't find it at your local store. We have jars available in our supplies
section of our store, too.
This great little lid is quite functional - it fits most wide mouth mason, Kerr and
Ball canning jars and is perfect to convert your jar into a strainer or sprouter!

Just tip jar and let the kefir strain out, leaving the scoby behind or sprout wheat
or other grains to eat and use in making more digestible breads at home.
Made of culture-friendly food-grade plastic.
Cooking oil mister. Reusable, economical, environmentally friendly and
attractive as well. This one we particularly like because it has the capability to
hold just oil, or oil with blends of herbs or spices, without clogging up. Nothing
like home-made infused oil to spray onto fresh salad greens or bbq's! Having
the ability to spray oil comes in extremely handy for any type of baking.
There are many options for gluten free flours out there these days. This one
(by Ogran) in particular bakes well and tastes wonderful. Other great options
include:
King Arthur flour is known for their fine, fresh flours and gourmet choices.
Their bread flour is considered one of the best amongst the dedicated
hobby home bakers.
One of THE best maple syrups out there - and we're talking Vermont fresh
from the tree quality. You will be dining on cloud 9 pouring this over your fresh
sourdough waffles and pancakes!
Raw honey has substantial health benefits both for your skin and for
consumption. Although we recommend finding local raw honey (which also
can help improve seasonal allergies), this is an excellent and highly
recommended choice of raw honey, and is so good on fresh, warm
sourdough bread.
Absolutely the best tasting jams out there (and that's not just our opinion). A
little background: Bonne Maman products are exported to over 100 countries
and are top rated in taste tests. Their preserves and jellies are made with no
colorings, artificial preservatives, pulps, purees, juices or concentrates.
Really the best unbleached baking cups out there currently and by far the best
price. They permit baking without greasing the pan, are reusable 3-4 times,
coated with natural silicone (non-toxic when incinerated, not chrome-bearing
chemical quilon) and of course they're unbleached. Now that's a baking cup!
Our favorite cooking vessel. If we could choose one pot to take with us to an
island this would be it. Clay  bakeware makes outstanding crunchy
sourdough bread, succulent roast chickens, perfectly oven-roasted veggies,
and any type of casserole. Whatever goes in the oven for us goes in this
basically. There are many clay bakers out there, all different shapes and sizes,
we recommend this one for its versatile size and affordability (some are very
expensive).
Our second favorite cooking vessel. We did our research before purchasing,
and we've been very happy with it. A couple reasons why it's worth investing in
this dutch oven over out there. It has a knob/handle that withstands high heat
(you need this for baking bread - most don't have this), it has unique
self-basting spikes on the underside of the lid for distribution of juices
throughout cooking, it has a natural non stick surface that is more resistant to
cast iron. It's also suitable for use on any cooking surface, including induction
(making up for the one thing the clay baker can't do). We fry and roast and do
just about everything stove-related with this. This is pricey, but still cheaper
than some brands and is worth the investment.
This little cast iron griddle is perfect for pancakes, english muffins, panini,
pita bread and tortillas. Cast iron has a naturally non-stick surface, cooks
much more evenly and allows everything to brown more easily too. It's difficult
to burn things because of its slow steady heat. We get beautiful golden
pancakes and even perfectly seared steaks and bacon on ours - cast iron is
really quite helpful to have on hand in the kitchen. Never got good results with
tortillas until we used this. This can also double as a baking stone in the oven!
Popular little Belgian waffle maker. Same thoughts apply as the
aforementioned one above! Makes waffles with larger holes.
Your standard traditional waffle maker, we own this one and it continues to
serve us well. These can have a bad rep for being a gimmick item - but if you
like to save money, and like sourdough waffles, you will get quite a lot of use
out of it. We use ours monthly, making huge batches of waffles to freeze, pop
in the toaster and enjoy at a moments notice.
If you want fresh flour or specialty flour (rice, bean, etc) at home, this is the little
grain mill to get the job done. One of the best on the market, very durable,
reliable and easy to use.
As mentioned in the jar section on this page, with the airtight clamp and swing
top lid, this is a perfect storage jar for sourdough. You can rest the lid closed,
without sealing it tight, allowing your sourdough to breathe and release
trapped gas, but without letting in dust or invading critters of any kind. With this
type of jar you don't have to bother with cloth or paper lids.
Digital multi-function food scale. Serious bakers always have a scale on
hand. Measuring truly accurate amounts of flour, starter and other ingredients
can only be done by weight. The best thing about this scale is that its
affordable, comes in tons of colors, its easy to use and can be used to weigh
other things such as your mail, freezing portions of meat, etc.
Many digital thermometers are unreliable but this one is rated one of the best
(and priced well too). As mentioned above, this is excellent for making yogurt
or bread. Perfect for inserting into the loaf to check internal temp, indicating
when its ready to come out of the oven.
Unbleached parchment paper is such a versatile thing to have on hand for
baking. It prevents any type of cookie, muffin or bread from sticking to the pan
or the paper itself (good for fries, fish sticks, etc too). Reusable a couple times
before you need to toss- we use this stuff all the time.
Even better than parchment is this reusable non-stick silicone baking mat -
doesn't work well for wrapping around things, but is perfect for all your flat
baking tray needs.
This silicone muffin pan is perfect for baking your muffins in a non-stick,
reusable pan. For now silicone is considered safer than traditional non-stick
pans. When all is said and done, the best method is probably still cast iron (or
glass that is greased) if you want non-stick cookware without strange
chemicals leaching into your food.
Some things like butter crocks have stood the test of time for centuries. This
one is affordable, a nice size and keeps your butter preserved at room temp
for accessible, spreadable butter. Also can be used to store sourdough at
room temp if you are feeding it regularly.
Glassware is wonderful for storing, baking, freezing and heating. We try to use
glass as much as possible as its healthier. The largest sizes are perfect to
bake round cakes and bread in too.
Although almost twice as much as the above set, we stuck this set in here
because it has clear lids and tests better for sealing.
As for sourdough books and bread-making and baking books there are hundreds to choose from.
Check out your local library, you may be pleasantly surprised that they have many of them. Here are
some of our favorites (we've actually read) with very brief explanations as to why:
Classic Sourdoughs is a very easy to understand beginner's book with a wide
range of simple, functional recipes (bread, pizza, pretzels, etc).
World class pastry chef and owner of La Brea Bakery divulges many of her tips
and scrumptious exotic recipes - all based on sourdough starter baking. This
book is heavy on skill, labor and detail.
For getting serious with baking this is the right place to start. Beautiful photos,
well-presented facts and tips, lots of interesting recipes - highly discussed
amongst bread forums.
The other book (besides the one above) that is the best place to begin delving
into some serious knowledge with baking. It is presented well and easy to
understand.
Emphasizes old-world traditional breads - full of pictures and unique rustic
European recipes.
A very fun sourdough cookbook full interesting scraps of information, history
and of course scrumptious cabin in the woods, no-nonsense hot off the
griddle recipes. One of the best.
Can't sum it up much better than it's title: Wild Bread, Handbaked sourdough
artisan breads in your own kitchen. The author is very informative and put a lot
of heart into the book - a favorite for many.
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Copyright © 2010 Yemoos Nourishing Cultures. All rights reserved.
These are all products we recommended from our own research and own personal use.

  • Each item is what we've found to be the 'crème de la crème' in its category.
  • All the products in some way aid in fermenting, are sustainable, or are eco-friendly (and in
    many cases all three).
  • We live on a tight budget so you'll find most of our recommendations are reasonably priced
    as well.
  • Have something you think we should recommend? Let us know in our 'Suggestions and
    Feedback Box'!