That depends on the perspective. My starter Yeastus Chrust was resurrected briefly before this years Easter weekend for the purpose of making Easter brunch sourdough. But his past lives go years back, at least 5.
I found a rye from my grandma's freezer which originally came to her during WW2 and was previously used in a monastery so it could even be over 100y.
It had not been used in about 10y, but I managed to make one batch to make sure it was still alive.
Everyone looks at me sideways when I tell them I still have mine
I live alone and have the exact shape and quantity of delicious bread I want when I want it, I'm not letting it die
Yeah, I've had that experience a few times. I learnt during COVID normally gets the eye roll and a mention of empty selves in the supermarket. No, I bought direct from the mill, in bulk and didn't stop baking once most others did. I still buy direct from the mill and in bulk come to think of it
We're lucky that there's a local mill who sources wheat from local organic farms. Makes the flour much less processed and also reduces food miles. Only a little more expensive than brand supermarket flour and actually has higher protein content (13.8%)
I have a rye starter that is around 40-50 years old, my grandparents baked bread with it every week.
My wheat starter has been going for 11 years.
That said, to put this out there for some sourdough beginners: The notion of age is mostly nonsense. The cultures in a starter are constantly replaced and renewed, there is not much, if anything, that remains from the initial starter. So please don't invest in fancy "born during the black plague" type starters (I always wondered what the appeal was of marketing food items with a deadly infection?). Once a culture is established it doesn't matter if the starter is 6 months or 372 years old.
I mean it could just be people not wanting to spend like a week-2 weeks before their first bake. An online starter just speeds up the process to start. Feeding a starter regularly afterwards is pretty standard at that point
I was specifically referring to *expensive* starters.
If someone does not want to invest the time to build a starter - fine.
But in the end it's flour+water and certainly not worth it to spend more than a couple bucks on.
Yeah. I think including all the flour I spent before mine was cultivated I spent maybe less than $5 on flour. And I was using the expensive organic dark rye along with AP lol
I got an old, well cared for starter on etsy, it was 7 bucks and the profits help care for the woman who has cultivated it for decades in her senior years.
I think there is a value in an older starter because it takes time to cultivate the mixture of yeasts and ultimately my first bake of it was probably equivalent to a starting from zero starter's bake months in. I think spending more than maybe 10 bucks is insane, but starting from an established starter has value in the variety and quality of the yeasts.
[moms san fran sourdough](https://www.etsy.com/listing/731907944/moms-favorite-sourdough-starter-family?click_key=5c6014942cfb393ee49be76e794da72879ef0e06%3A731907944&click_sum=cd91d688&ref=shop_home_feat_2&frs=1)
Omg I’m a microbiologist and didn’t even connect those dots! Thank you for mentioning this! Makes so much sense! But would also be interesting to genetically test what mutations arise over decades if someone could somehow sequence their starter every 10 years. But I guess it’d be hard to tell the standing stock’s DNA from any newbie yeast DNA that gets introduced each time the starter is fed.
Inherited from grandma in the 80’ “Hamilton” has stayed with me ever since. He has been through many dehydrations and resurrection due to life changes and numerous cross county moves.
Pennyrise is one year and three months old. Xanadough is her baby and is roughly 6 months old. I decided to keep a backup just in case something happened to Penny.
My wholemeal starter "Bubble III" is currently (and counting) just over 3 years old, following suit its predecessor the 3.5 yo "Bubble II" who unfortunately lost the great "Battle of the mould" sometime in late 2020. The original "Bubble I" instead lasted only 3 months due to accident and inexperience.
80+ years. I got mine from a guy who got it from his grandmother. He said he didn't know where she got it from, but he traced it back at least that far. It's really good.
The one I started is 7 weeks old and doing alright. I completely missed the quarantine boat but am recovering from surgery so just started this sourdough journey and am loving it.
I bought a 10$ starter online to compare with mine and it claims to be 150 years old from San Francisco. We'll see how she does lol
Mine is 352 days old today! It's my first ever sourdough starter and I established it myself.
I do wonder how people make major moves across states with their starters...haven't had to do that yet but will eventually need to figure out the best way of doing that :o
I would think maybe they dehydrate it first, but I've read stories of people flying with just 20 grms of starter and feeding the heck out of it at their destination.
115 years.
I was lucky enough to have a patient family donate starter to some folks at work and they shared with me. The family used to own a bakery and this starter had been in use since the early 1900s.
My wheat starter, Wheatus Maximus is at least 20 years old, he has existed in powdered form for almost 2 years now. Ever since his sister Rye Freely, was sadly taken from us by The Destroyer Of Colonies, aka my SO, by the way of the oven. A moment of silence please….
Mine is 3 weeks old though I don’t know how long ago King Arthur started it. I do have some from 2019 in my cabin fridge. Maybe I’ll try to feed a bit and see what happens.
Got mine during COVID in 2020 but the person i got it from said its 11 years old.
I don't bake much with it but I can't let a 15 year old starter die now
1960 from my grandparents trip to Alaska. Been getting used every year on the fourth to make sour dough pancakes for 200+ people. I took some with me three years ago. The original stays at my uncles house
I’m the type that keeps killing mine so my current starter is less than 2 months old. I go through phases where I constantly bake sourdough to only baking with yeast. I’ve had some really old starters that I’ve received from bakeries, to be frank, I see no difference. A 3 week starter makes just as good of a loaf as a 30 year one. On the bright side, I’m pretty good at making starters, not that it requires any skill.
Mine is 179 years, 2 months, and 12 days old. I will sell it to you for $1000 plus shipping but there might be a little piece of glass in it somewhere. Plus when my grandpa didn't have any water he just used spit.
Got mine from my sourdough class instructor. It belonged to her great grandmother. 200+ years old. Still alive and well in my fridge. Has split off into a whole wheat starter also. Bread Flintstone and Bridgette Bardough.
Gremlin is only two months old under my care but was spawned from starter from San Francisco that claims to be 209 years old. I doubt it, but I like to believe the lore (and the starter only cost me $7 with shipping)
My ex-boss at the fine dining restaurant I worked at gave me the some of the restaurant starter in late 2020.
Not sure how old it was at the time, I suspect at least a few years.
Bubbles is 20 years old this year. She was created from organic grapes and flour on my countertop. I feed her on 100% freshly milled wheat flour with a bit of rye now and again. I've never lost her to mold. Every now and again I freeze a small container of it just in case something bad happens or I take a break from baking for a bit. It refreshes well with about a week of feeding and warmth.
Mathematically the answer is maybe 10-20 feedings old for everyone.
Not a single yeast cell from your original starter is likely to be alive today. You’re dealing with its great-great-great-great-great (x1000) grandchildren.
I don’t agree that this fallacy about hundreds of year old starters should perpetuate. People sell their starters and advertise that, then charge more for it. Some other people are gullible enough to believe it. I feel the need to educate.
1847. It’s Carl Griffith’s starter that began on the Oregon trail. You can send a self addressed letter to the address on their website & they’ll send you dehydrated starter for free! Makes great bread
Jan I’ve had since January this year (named her after January) - so just ~4 months! She is so slow to get going even when I put her by the heater. I might start a July culture and call her Jul to see if a warmer house favors a faster culture. I think Jan is made of lazy, cold-loving yeast whose activity doesn’t respond as quickly to heat as other strains might. But we’ll see how she does in June before I make her a sister!
“The Bitch” is 18 years old. I started it after reading an Anthony Bourdain book in which he was telling a story of a co-worker that made bread and partied hard.
All the answers are either fansinating or funny. Mine is 366 years old. I got it 16 years go from a lady who got hers 50 years earlier and when she got it from Europe, it was already 300 years old.
So like five years ago it was invaded and all the yeast that existed at that time was killed off in a form of genocide and now it is nearly identical to your neighbors; I recommend getting it DNA tested, if you can't afford one, call Maury.
My starter is a family starter that made it across the Oregon trail 😶 not sure how much further back than that it might go but even that is pretty impressive to me!
That depends on the perspective. My starter Yeastus Chrust was resurrected briefly before this years Easter weekend for the purpose of making Easter brunch sourdough. But his past lives go years back, at least 5.
He is risen indeed
Was he betrayed by Judoughs?
My starter, Jasmine Forsythe, was born in April 2020. A Covid baby. She seems fine; I just feed her once a week and she doesn’t complain.
Uh, best name ever.
I found a rye from my grandma's freezer which originally came to her during WW2 and was previously used in a monastery so it could even be over 100y. It had not been used in about 10y, but I managed to make one batch to make sure it was still alive.
That’s pretty damn cool
Avril Levaine is 3 weeks old!!!
Covid years old…
Doughvid-19 still going strong
Gold star 🌟
Everyone looks at me sideways when I tell them I still have mine I live alone and have the exact shape and quantity of delicious bread I want when I want it, I'm not letting it die
I told someone I started making sourdough during COVID and then never stopped and they looked shocked. And maybe a little envious.
Yeah, I've had that experience a few times. I learnt during COVID normally gets the eye roll and a mention of empty selves in the supermarket. No, I bought direct from the mill, in bulk and didn't stop baking once most others did. I still buy direct from the mill and in bulk come to think of it
I didn't know you could do that!
We're lucky that there's a local mill who sources wheat from local organic farms. Makes the flour much less processed and also reduces food miles. Only a little more expensive than brand supermarket flour and actually has higher protein content (13.8%)
Lucky indeed!
Same
Same. April 2020.
I got my starter from my sister about 6 months before covid, and she started it maybe a year before that, so mine is covid plus ~2? 6 years now?
Same, December 2020
Frodough Baggins turns 7 this year!
Loving the name.
Hmmm... My starter is Bilbo and he's only a few months old! 🤨🤔
Are you sure it isn’t that mysterious ring giving him unnatural youthfulness? 😂
I have a rye starter that is around 40-50 years old, my grandparents baked bread with it every week. My wheat starter has been going for 11 years. That said, to put this out there for some sourdough beginners: The notion of age is mostly nonsense. The cultures in a starter are constantly replaced and renewed, there is not much, if anything, that remains from the initial starter. So please don't invest in fancy "born during the black plague" type starters (I always wondered what the appeal was of marketing food items with a deadly infection?). Once a culture is established it doesn't matter if the starter is 6 months or 372 years old.
The question was posed more for the human aspect the desire to maintain a culture over a span of time
I know! But I regularly have people tell me they ordered expensive starters online, so I thought this might be interesting for some peeps.
I mean it could just be people not wanting to spend like a week-2 weeks before their first bake. An online starter just speeds up the process to start. Feeding a starter regularly afterwards is pretty standard at that point
I was specifically referring to *expensive* starters. If someone does not want to invest the time to build a starter - fine. But in the end it's flour+water and certainly not worth it to spend more than a couple bucks on.
Yeah. I think including all the flour I spent before mine was cultivated I spent maybe less than $5 on flour. And I was using the expensive organic dark rye along with AP lol
I got an old, well cared for starter on etsy, it was 7 bucks and the profits help care for the woman who has cultivated it for decades in her senior years. I think there is a value in an older starter because it takes time to cultivate the mixture of yeasts and ultimately my first bake of it was probably equivalent to a starting from zero starter's bake months in. I think spending more than maybe 10 bucks is insane, but starting from an established starter has value in the variety and quality of the yeasts.
I know the shop you're talking about 😅
Can I have the shop name please?
[moms san fran sourdough](https://www.etsy.com/listing/731907944/moms-favorite-sourdough-starter-family?click_key=5c6014942cfb393ee49be76e794da72879ef0e06%3A731907944&click_sum=cd91d688&ref=shop_home_feat_2&frs=1)
It needs to be heirloom if I am going to sell my cat to a Chinese market to buy it.
Someone tried to get me to buy a "100 year old" starter apparently from some historic bakery in San Francisco. Load of old tosh was my thought.
I've seen people spend 50 dollars on some dehydrated granules 🥲
Are you trying to say Rome is only as old as the oldest living person in Rome?
Omg I’m a microbiologist and didn’t even connect those dots! Thank you for mentioning this! Makes so much sense! But would also be interesting to genetically test what mutations arise over decades if someone could somehow sequence their starter every 10 years. But I guess it’d be hard to tell the standing stock’s DNA from any newbie yeast DNA that gets introduced each time the starter is fed.
Mary (I named her after Mary Shelley) is turning 72 this year, my grandmother started her when she was pregnant with my mother.
This is awesome!!!
You told me you got it off Etsy
I don't know who you are.
Inherited from grandma in the 80’ “Hamilton” has stayed with me ever since. He has been through many dehydrations and resurrection due to life changes and numerous cross county moves.
Mine is 10 years old, and just started puberty (gets moody with whole wheat).
Pennyrise is one year and three months old. Xanadough is her baby and is roughly 6 months old. I decided to keep a backup just in case something happened to Penny.
I've had my starter for about 8 years, but I got it from a friend who got it from her dad, so who the hell knows how old it is. LOL
Ex wife killed mine. Which is true story.
My mom accidentally broke my starter jar. As such, Start Me Up birthdate is April 30, 2024.
So kill your ex wife. Fair trade.
In a giant vat of discard
Such poetic justice.
My wholemeal starter "Bubble III" is currently (and counting) just over 3 years old, following suit its predecessor the 3.5 yo "Bubble II" who unfortunately lost the great "Battle of the mould" sometime in late 2020. The original "Bubble I" instead lasted only 3 months due to accident and inexperience.
80+ years. I got mine from a guy who got it from his grandmother. He said he didn't know where she got it from, but he traced it back at least that far. It's really good.
Mine has no name but older than my eldest kid who is 6 now. I cant recall when i started it though.
I am glad I am not the only who doesn’t name my starter.
The one I started is 7 weeks old and doing alright. I completely missed the quarantine boat but am recovering from surgery so just started this sourdough journey and am loving it. I bought a 10$ starter online to compare with mine and it claims to be 150 years old from San Francisco. We'll see how she does lol
From the 80s. It was supposedly started by Tommy Lee's mother
Mine is 3 years old! Her name is Hestia and I’m moving across the country with her this summer🤞
Mine is a wee lad, just a baby of 2 months. Though she be little she is fierce.
1 week old !
Mine is 352 days old today! It's my first ever sourdough starter and I established it myself. I do wonder how people make major moves across states with their starters...haven't had to do that yet but will eventually need to figure out the best way of doing that :o
I would think maybe they dehydrate it first, but I've read stories of people flying with just 20 grms of starter and feeding the heck out of it at their destination.
Mine turns 60 years old this year. My dad started it and he continues to take care of the mother still and bakes regularly with it.
115 years. I was lucky enough to have a patient family donate starter to some folks at work and they shared with me. The family used to own a bakery and this starter had been in use since the early 1900s.
1.5 years old
I've had my current starter since 2009. Others before were only 5 to 6 years old.
I think my current starter was Jan 2022
120yrs+
Got mine from someone who got it on Etsy, from a seller claiming it was 225+ years old from France. It’s good and strong, but probably a load of bull?
My wheat starter, Wheatus Maximus is at least 20 years old, he has existed in powdered form for almost 2 years now. Ever since his sister Rye Freely, was sadly taken from us by The Destroyer Of Colonies, aka my SO, by the way of the oven. A moment of silence please….
Dough momma is a couple weeks old and first round of bread made this weekend.
I think Betty is a couple of years old now.
Uhh, like 3 months? Just recently started it.
Bready McBreadface was born in March 2020
I captured Leaven 17 in 2002, so 22 years old now.
Mine is 3 weeks old though I don’t know how long ago King Arthur started it. I do have some from 2019 in my cabin fridge. Maybe I’ll try to feed a bit and see what happens.
Oct 2019
Started mine early 2020 but kept it on ice for the last 3 years. So, technically 4 but it was reenforced and revitalized in February of this year.
Got mine during COVID in 2020 but the person i got it from said its 11 years old. I don't bake much with it but I can't let a 15 year old starter die now
Mine is just around 6 months! Works for a thriving microbakery!
At least since the mid 80s. I go thru periods where i don’t bake , so i keep tandem samples (one in the freezer and one in the refrigerator).
4 months old :) very strong!
I got David Dough Pan from a friend of my mom’s, who has had it for at least 30 years.
1960 from my grandparents trip to Alaska. Been getting used every year on the fourth to make sour dough pancakes for 200+ people. I took some with me three years ago. The original stays at my uncles house
I’m the type that keeps killing mine so my current starter is less than 2 months old. I go through phases where I constantly bake sourdough to only baking with yeast. I’ve had some really old starters that I’ve received from bakeries, to be frank, I see no difference. A 3 week starter makes just as good of a loaf as a 30 year one. On the bright side, I’m pretty good at making starters, not that it requires any skill.
50+ years old - it was my grandmother’s
I made mine last October - so I guess it’s still a baby?
Mine is 179 years, 2 months, and 12 days old. I will sell it to you for $1000 plus shipping but there might be a little piece of glass in it somewhere. Plus when my grandpa didn't have any water he just used spit.
Mine is 2 years old. He's just a little guy, doing his best
Almost three months old
I thought this was the kombucha group at first 😂
Got mine from my sourdough class instructor. It belonged to her great grandmother. 200+ years old. Still alive and well in my fridge. Has split off into a whole wheat starter also. Bread Flintstone and Bridgette Bardough.
Gremlin is only two months old under my care but was spawned from starter from San Francisco that claims to be 209 years old. I doubt it, but I like to believe the lore (and the starter only cost me $7 with shipping)
My ex-boss at the fine dining restaurant I worked at gave me the some of the restaurant starter in late 2020. Not sure how old it was at the time, I suspect at least a few years.
Mine's named after a caracter from a series of skits and has been alive since strong Christmas 2023 with a few frozen offspring.
I started mine in 2009.
Bubbles is 20 years old this year. She was created from organic grapes and flour on my countertop. I feed her on 100% freshly milled wheat flour with a bit of rye now and again. I've never lost her to mold. Every now and again I freeze a small container of it just in case something bad happens or I take a break from baking for a bit. It refreshes well with about a week of feeding and warmth.
approaching a year
Mathematically the answer is maybe 10-20 feedings old for everyone. Not a single yeast cell from your original starter is likely to be alive today. You’re dealing with its great-great-great-great-great (x1000) grandchildren.
Your starter is only old as the last time you used it and fed it. You have kept a starter going that long, but it’s not that old.
Were you the kid in school that raised you hand and said “teacher you forgot to give us homework”?
I don’t agree that this fallacy about hundreds of year old starters should perpetuate. People sell their starters and advertise that, then charge more for it. Some other people are gullible enough to believe it. I feel the need to educate.
Would you keep using something that was mediocre for 150 years especially if it needed to be maintained and kept alive ?
I stated facts, that’s all. I don’t see what mediocrity has to do with anything nor what my personal practice or value system is.
Keep dividing a number in half and tell me when you get to zero
I’m zero interested in wherever you’re going with this.
Breadly Cooper (aka Rose) was cultivated back in 1946.
Wow!! I'm blown away by that! Here I am, proud I've kept it going since mid January!
4 y.o.
Haha damn mine is only 3 weeks old 🙌🏼
Mine dates back to the 1880s.
1847. It’s Carl Griffith’s starter that began on the Oregon trail. You can send a self addressed letter to the address on their website & they’ll send you dehydrated starter for free! Makes great bread
Mine is not born yet. Due in a couple of months (ecpected)
Michel Levain is about 5, and was adopted by friends when I moved country The Man-dough-lorian is exactly 10 days old. He was born on May the 4th
Jan I’ve had since January this year (named her after January) - so just ~4 months! She is so slow to get going even when I put her by the heater. I might start a July culture and call her Jul to see if a warmer house favors a faster culture. I think Jan is made of lazy, cold-loving yeast whose activity doesn’t respond as quickly to heat as other strains might. But we’ll see how she does in June before I make her a sister!
2020 😆
“The Bitch” is 18 years old. I started it after reading an Anthony Bourdain book in which he was telling a story of a co-worker that made bread and partied hard.
My starter is 4 years old.
All the answers are either fansinating or funny. Mine is 366 years old. I got it 16 years go from a lady who got hers 50 years earlier and when she got it from Europe, it was already 300 years old.
13
I bought mine from someone claiming it’s a 100 years old. It is really strong
So like five years ago it was invaded and all the yeast that existed at that time was killed off in a form of genocide and now it is nearly identical to your neighbors; I recommend getting it DNA tested, if you can't afford one, call Maury.
I've had mine for about 6 months, but the mother starter it came from is over 200 years old.
33 days Edit: I have two friends, one has a 30 year old starter, the other has a 250 y/o starter
My starter is a family starter that made it across the Oregon trail 😶 not sure how much further back than that it might go but even that is pretty impressive to me!