Sourdough Geeks

***STARTER AVAILABLE NOW***

The first ever Sourdough Geeks starter drop is now live and open to everyone! If you’ve struggled to make your own starter, or been afraid to mess it up, or just want to see what a strong, bakery starter performs like, now is your chance!!

No stories of how many hundreds of years old it is, or how it was excavated from a Phoenician tomb. Nope, this one is only FOUR years old, but has made over 30,000 loaves of bread! It’s been fed twice a day, and never been refrigerated.

Free shipping to US addresses only for now, but we will add international shipping for the next drop if there’s enough demand. Supplies are limited and it’s first come, first served until sell out:

https://www.sourdoughgeeks.com/store

Cheers!

James

Sourdough Geeks: Guiding bakers through all things sourdough. Founded in 2020 by Chef James Bridges, we're an independent community almost 600,000 strong and growing! James and his community have introduced countless new bakers to the world of sourdough, and have become a trusted resource to learn about sourdough in a supportive and inclusive environment.

Hey folks, we just launched our brand new website today. If you haven’t seen it yet, go and check it out!

We’ve got a free, detailed starter guide (10 pages) that you can download, with step-by-step instructions on how to create and maintain your own starter. It’s also where you will find recipes, articles, tutorials and the kind of geeky content you have come to expect from us, all in one place.

For a limited time, you can also sign up to be an official Sourdough Geeks member at the original price too. You’ll get to join our private community for more personal baking advice, plus early access to events and new products, and 10% off everything once you join.

https://www.sourdoughgeeks.com/memberships

All of this for the price of a latte per month, and we will be adding more to it all the time.

Memberships Founded in 2020 by Chef James Bridges, we're an independent community almost 600,000 strong and growing! James and his community have introduced countless new bakers to the world of sourdough, and have become a trusted resource to learn about sourdough in a supportive and inclusive environment.

PRODUCT REVIEW - BROD & TAYLOR KNIFE SHARPENER***

I’ve now had the Brod & Taylor knife sharpener for a little while, and I wanted to do an in-depth review of it for you all.They sent me both the Classic and Professional versions of the VG2 Knife Sharpener, with the only difference between them being the materials used. The Classic model is constructed of black nylon and the Professional from heavyweight stainless steel. My first thoughts upon opening the boxes and feeling them in my hands were that they were both really well constructed, but I preferred the additional weight of the stainless steel model. They both performed similarly during use, however, and I didn't feel like there was any difference in performance at all between the two.

I took the Classic one to the bakery, where we have been using it to keep all of our knives sharp there, and the Professional I have now used to sharpen and hone all of my personal knives. Once I cut a new bevel into them, I have really only needed to occasionally hone them since. In addition to putting a razor sharp edge onto all my blades, I am really impressed with how ridiculously simple it is to use. Unlike my whetstones, which require significant training to use properly, the Brod & Taylor knife sharpener takes only minutes to learn to use. The other benefit is that it literally only takes a minute or two to sharpen a knife completely, whereas a stone requires a good 15-20 minutes per blade. In terms of ease, the Brod & Taylor is the clear winner!

But what I was most intrigued about with the Brod & Taylor sharpener was the fact that it is also capable of sharpening serrated knives. I have never seen a pull-through type sharpener which was capable of doing this effectively, so sharpening my serrated knives always meant painstakingly using a file on each serration, or sending them off to be professionally sharpened. And, since this is a bread group, I feel that this is the most important aspect of the Brod & Taylor sharpener. I first tested it on my Tojiro bread knife, one that I had not sharpened since purchasing it over a year ago. It truly was in terrible shape in terms of sharpness. In just a couple of minutes, I was able to restore it to the same factory sharpness level it originally had, and it remains just as sharp over a month later.

I also have to say that while I feel the performance of whetstone sharpening my chef knife produces a slightly sharper finish, I will probably only use my stones on very rare occasions going forward. Since I am no longer a professional chef, that level of sharpness just isn't something that I need for daily kitchen use, so I will be reaching for the Brod & Taylor whenever they need a touch up again.

Here is how I scored the Brod & Taylor VG2:

Initial Quality: 5/5
Ease of Use: 5/5
Effectiveness: 4.5/5
Overall Score: 4.8/5

You can purchase either the Classic or Professional directly from Brod & Taylor here: https://brodandtaylor.com?dt_id=424800

*Please note, Brod & Taylor is a partner of Sourdough Geeks, and the above link is an affiliate link.

Brod & Taylor - Professional quality tools for the home chef Brod & Taylor is dedicated to bringing home chefs the appliances and tools they need to simplify the process of making fresh food from scratch.