If, like me, you became a little obsessed with making sourdough a few years ago (remember the craze during lockdown?), you'll have had some time to hone your craft. Ever since reading Aran Goyoaga's guide to gluten-free baking, however, I've been eager to try out some different recipes – but I know that it's time to upgrade my baking setup. Enter the Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home: an ingenious sourdough warmer that maintains the optimal temperature of your starter, so you'll never need to worry about constant upkeep.
Sourdough can be notoriously difficult to master, and for me, timing and preparation is always the biggest challenge. Yet with the Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home gracing my countertop, I'll always be one step ahead: it means I can feed my starter either daily or weekly, keeping it warm and active until I'm ready to use.
With a sleek, contemporary look and some incredible temperature-regulating technology, this handy gadget is every home baker's dream. It keeps your sourdough starter at the perfect temperature all year round, so you'll never be subject to panicked daily starter feedings or disappointing loaves.
Winter is well and truly upon us, and it's safe to say that my kitchen is pretty chilly (no matter how hard I try to create a cozy space). Naturally, this is bad news for my sourdough starter, which doesn't thrive in cold conditions – so investing in a dedicated warmer like the Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home has taken all the stress out of my baking.
Stable, ambient heat is the key to keeping a starter active, but it can still involve a lot of guesswork. With a sourdough warmer, however, such uncertainty vanishes: the Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home can self-regulate to maintain the precise temperature required to grow a starter.
If I'm planning to make a loaf every few days, I can easily increase the temperature so that my starter is ready to ferment; but more often than not, I'm only baking fresh bread every few weeks, so I can keep things low and steady without worrying that my starter will become inactive. I'd say the Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home is a real bread-making essential, and I don't know how I ever lived without it.
Life can be hectic, and I don't usually have the luxury of spending hours in the kitchen – so baking a fresh loaf of bread always makes me feel accomplished. It's certainly a labor of love, but with a countertop hero like the Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home, I can devote time to bread-making without the hassle of daily starter feedings. It gives me one less thing to think about; and since a healthy starter creates a better loaf, this handy appliance helps to produce rich, bakery-worthy loaves every time.
So, whether you're a keen baker or your sourdough journey is just beginning, I'd say that the Brod & Taylor Sourdough Home is a worthwhile investment. Few things are better than homemade bread, but anything that takes the stress out of the bread-making process will always get my stamp of approval.
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For me, the best cookware isn't just about functionality, but about finding pieces that I'd be more than happy to show off – and this Dutch bread oven checks both boxes. It's an oven-to-table hero.
Keep your starter safe and sound in these specially-crafted glass jars. The tiny dots help you track the progress of your mixture (by indicating when it doubles or triples in size), while the flexible silicone lids maintain a carefully-controlled environment.
If you really want to stock up on sourdough supplies, I'd say that a kit like this one is the best place to start. It features two proofing baskets alongside a scoring lame, dough whisk, bread sling, dough cutter, and bowl scraper.
Looking to expand your bread-making repertoire? I've been loving Clodagh McKenna's cheddar seeded sunflower bread recipe; it's flavorsome, comforting, and a brilliant companion to winter soups or stews.
