Sourdough Starter and Kombucha?

Soooo I did a thing today! Just because I can and it's gut healthy. I fed Cassandra (my sourdough starter) with some #kombucha today and she is perfectly happy with her feed!! 🧪 When Kombucha Meets Sourdough: My Fermentation Experiment I love testing small ideas — especially when they involve fermentation! I couldn’t find much online about using kombucha in a sourdough starter, so I decided to run my own little kitchen experiment using my homemade brew. Day 1 – The Start (2:44 pm) I added 2 tablespoons of kombucha to my active starter. Within 1 hour 50 minutes, bubbles began to appear — a great sign of life! 6:12 pm It had doubled in size, so I continued feeding it normally — no extra kombucha — to observe the natural interaction. 6:44 pm The starter had grown 2.5× and smelled fresh, slightly fruity, and yeasty. 8:44 pm It had tripled, peaked, and was just starting to fall back. 👉 Flour mix: 90% white bread flour, 10% rye. ⸻ Evening Curiosity – 9:30 pm I couldn’t resist taking things further. I had two jars of active discard in the fridge, so I set up three side tests: 1. Added kombucha discard into one fridge jar. 2. Took scrapings from my kombucha starter and fed it lightly. 3. Fed another jar into a thicker starter consistency. Then I left everything overnight to see what nature would do while I slept. ⸻ Morning Results – 6:00 am All three looked and smelled fantastic. • The discard in the fridge was bubbly. • The scrapings jar had risen 4×. • The thick starter also rose 4×, peaked, and settled beautifully. ⸻ Conclusion This was a successful experiment! The kombucha gave my starter a gentle boost without upsetting its balance. The result was a lively, strong starter with a rich, clean aroma. I’ve decided to keep the thick starter as my main one — it’s clearly thriving and has a lovely, consistent rise. Sometimes, it really pays to experiment! #sourdough #sourdoughbread #sourdoughlove #kombucha #sourdoughkombucha #kombuchasourdough