<![CDATA[Laatste nieuws van Kaatjes Bakwinkel]]> https://www.kaatjesbakwinkel.nl/ <![CDATA[Sourdough maintenance: how to keep your starter strong and active]]> Many people think that maintaining a sourdough starter is the same as starting one. However, there is an important difference. How you feed your starter once it is active determines whether it stays strong or becomes weak and overly acidic. Because these two phases are often confused, this blog focuses specifically on maintaining a sourdough starter.

If you continue feeding your starter the same way as during the initial start-up phase, it will eventually receive too little nutrition. This results in a sour, sluggish starter with reduced leavening power. With proper maintenance, your sourdough starter will remain stable, active, and reliable.

Do you not yet have an active starter? Read the blog How to make a sourdough starter (with rye flour) first, where I explain step by step how to start a starter and when it is ready for use.

When do you start maintaining your sourdough starter?
Once your starter is active—meaning it doubles after feeding, smells fresh and slightly sour, and is full of bubbles—you can move from starting to maintaining it. This usually happens between day 6 and 10, depending on temperature, flour, and environment.

From this point on, you will:
  • increase the amount of feed (adjust the feeding ratio)
  • adapt maintenance to how often you bake

How often should you feed a sourdough starter?
How often you feed your starter depends on where you store it and how frequently you bake.
  • At room temperature: Feed your starter 1–2 times per day
  • In the refrigerator: Feed your starter about once a week. Always take the starter out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature before feeding. After feeding, leave it at room temperature until it becomes clearly active and approaches its peak. Only then return it to the refrigerator.

The right feeding ratio for maintenance
During the start-up phase, a 1:1:1 ratio (starter : flour : water) is commonly used. While ideal for starting a starter, it is not suitable for long-term maintenance.

Once your starter is ready for use, increase the ratio to:
  • 1:3:3
  • 1:5:5

The higher the proportion of flour and water: the longer it takes to reach peak activity 
the stronger and more active the starter becomes. If you want to bake quickly, feed more often or use a lower ratio. If you have more time, a higher ratio works very well. Ambient temperature (cooler in winter, warmer in summer) also affects the ideal ratio.

Preferably use:
  • Lukewarm to warm water (not above ±45 °C / 113 °F, as yeast will die)
  • Whole grain flour or partially rye flour for extra nutrients
If your starter seems less active, adding some rye flour can give it an extra boost.

Hygiene is essential:
  • Always use a clean spoon
  • Preferably work with a clean jar
  • This prevents contamination and unwanted bacteria.

How much starter do you actually need?
You don’t need to keep a large amount of starter. In fact, the smaller your base, the less you have to discard. A small amount is often enough, for example:
  • 10 g starter
  • 50 g flour
  • 50 g water
This is sufficient to keep your starter strong and allows easy scaling for baking.

What if your starter becomes less active?
If your starter seems sluggish, try the following:
  • Use slightly warmer water
  • Place the starter in a warmer spot
  • Temporarily add some rye flour
Improvement is often visible within a few feedings.

A starter that hasn’t been fed for a long time
If your starter has been neglected, you may see a brown or grayish liquid on top. This is not mold—it’s a sign of hunger.

What to do:
  • Stir the liquid back into the starter
  • Place the starter at room temperature
  • Give several peak-to-peak feedings
This means feeding only when the starter has reached its peak—fully risen and just before it starts to collapse. For starters normally kept in the refrigerator, always perform these feedings at room temperature.

Repeat until the starter:
  • doubles quickly
  • smells fresh
  • is clearly active
⚠️ Never feed your starter again before it has (nearly) doubled, as this dilutes the yeast population and weakens the starter.

How to recognize an active sourdough starter
A healthy starter:
  • Doubles in volume after feeding
  • Contains many visible air bubbles
  • Smells fresh and mildly sour
  • Has a light, slightly elastic texture
When these signs are present, your starter is ready to bake with.

Finally
At Kaatjes, we’re passionate about baking bread. A well‑maintained sourdough starter is the foundation for consistent, flavorful sourdough loaves. By paying attention to feeding, timing, and temperature, your starter can stay strong and reliable for years.

Have you managed to keep your sourdough starter in good shape? Or did you run into any challenges along the way? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below — questions, doubts, and tips are always welcome. Together, we help each other grow.

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:48:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Making a Sourdough Starter (with Rye Flour)]]>
Baking bread with sourdough feels a bit like magic. With just flour, water, and a little patience, you create a living sourdough starter that gives your loaves flavor, character, and a wonderfully crisp crust. In this blog, I’ll guide you step by step through making your own sourdough starter with rye flour — perfect for anyone just starting out with sourdough baking.

Why use rye flour for a sourdough starter?

Rye flour is ideal for making a sourdough starter. It’s packed with nutrients and natural yeasts, which often makes the starter active more quickly than when using wheat flour. Especially for beginners, a rye sourdough starter is a reliable and forgiving choice.

Recipe: Making a sourdough starter with rye flour

What you’ll need

Day 1 – Start your sourdough starter

Mix:

  • 50 g rye flour
  • 50 g water

Stir until you have a thick, smooth paste. Scrape down the sides of the jar, place the lid loosely on top (not airtight!), and set it in a warm spot at about 20–24 °C (68–75 °F).

Day 2 – First feeding

You may already see a few small bubbles, or nothing may seem to be happening yet — both are completely normal.

Add:

  • 50 g rye flour
  • 50 g water

Stir well, cover loosely again, and let it rest.

Day 3–5 – Your starter comes to life

Now things really start happening. The starter may smell sour, bubble actively, or even collapse temporarily. All of this is part of the natural sourdough process.

Repeat daily:

  • Discard half of the starter

  • Add:

    • 50 g rye flour

    • 50 g water

Keep stirring and feeding daily. At this stage, if you like, you can gradually replace part of the rye flour with wheat flour.

When is your sourdough starter ready to use?

Your starter is ready when it:

  • Doubles in size within 4–6 hours after feeding
  • Smells pleasantly tangy (not sharp or musty)
  • Is full of small and larger bubbles

This usually happens around day 5 to 7.

Helpful tips for a successful sourdough starter

  • Always use clean utensils
  • Do not cover the jar with a cloth; this can encourage mold growth
  • Place a rubber band around the jar after feeding so you can easily track how much your starter rises

And now what?

Your sourdough starter is officially alive! In the coming days, it will only get stronger and develop more character. With a little care and regular feeding, you can enjoy it for years. In my next blog, I’ll share everything you need to know about maintaining your sourdough starter: how often to feed it, what to do if it becomes less active, and how to store it when you’re not baking.

You can find our bread‑baking supplies under the Bread & Pizza category.

 

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:01:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Discover our new webshop]]> Our renewed webshop is live – and we’re incredibly excited about it!
Over the past period, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes, and we’re proud to finally say: our renewed webshop is online! A fresh, modern look and a completely improved shopping experience make shopping with us easier, faster, and more enjoyable than ever before.

A modern look & a contemporary shopping experience
Our new webshop features a fully updated, contemporary theme. Not only does everything look sleeker and more professional, the design also helps you find your way more easily. Whether you’re looking for something specific or just browsing—you’ll notice everything feels much more intuitive.

Perfect on mobile
We know that more and more customers shop via their phone or tablet. That’s why we’ve made sure our webshop scales perfectly on all mobile devices. Everything loads faster, looks better, and runs smoothly—without any hassle.

A clear, well-structured homepage
Our homepage has been redesigned to give you a clear overview of everything we offer. New is our blog, where we will keep you updated on tips, news, trends, and insights related to our products and services.

Improved category pages & smart search filters
Navigating has never been easier:

  • the category pages are more clearly structured

  • scrolling through the assortment is simpler

  • and thanks to the new search filters, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.
    Filter by price, brand, stock, and more—so you’ll see the product that suits you in no time.

Larger product photos & a new hover function
Since online shopping relies on good visuals, we’ve added larger, sharper product photos. In addition, a second photo now appears automatically when you hover your mouse over a product. This gives you a better impression of the item without extra clicks.

We’re proud – and above all: curious what you think!
For us, this renewed webshop feels like a big step forward, but ultimately, your experience is what matters most. We hope you enjoy shopping with us even more and warmly invite you to explore the updated site.

Feel free to let us know what you think—your feedback is always welcome!

]]> Thu, 11 Dec 2025 15:15:00 +0000 <![CDATA[The secret to perfectly whipped cream]]> To make a proper whipped‑cream cake, you need cream that’s whipped until firm, so you can smooth the cake and decorate it with beautiful swirls. But how do you achieve that?

First, it’s important to use cream with at least 35% fat. Lower fat percentages simply won’t whip properly. Place a bowl (preferably metal) with the whisk attachments in the freezer for half an hour so everything becomes ice‑cold. Also use the cream straight from the fridge and don’t let it warm up on the counter. The colder the cream when whipping, the better the result.

To sweeten the cream, use about 10% sugar — so for 1 litre of cream, that’s 100 g of sugar. Take the bowl out of the freezer and pour in the cold cream. Start whipping with the cold mixer whisks and slowly add the sugar. Now it’s just a matter of waiting until the cream thickens.

Whip the cream until it’s nice and firm, but don’t go too far — otherwise you’ll end up making butter. Once you have stiff peaks, the cream is ready to use for your whipped‑cream cake.

And if it still doesn’t work out, you can always use Funcakes Whipped Cream Stabilizer!



]]> Mon, 15 Aug 2022 21:45:00 +0000 <![CDATA[How do I achieve a nice black or red colour using food colouring?]]> Some colours, such as black and red, can be a bit tricky to achieve with food colouring. Black often leans more towards a dark grey, and red towards a deep pink — and that’s exactly what we don’t want.

With some colourings, like yellow for example, just a single drop is enough to instantly create a beautiful yellow shade in your buttercream or fondant/marzipan. But with red, black and other dark colours, it can feel like you’re squeezing out half a tube and still not reaching the right shade. So yes, these colours simply require more colouring. It also depends on which colourings you use. In our shop, we sell highly concentrated gel food colourings from Rainbow Dust, Funcakes and Wilton.

Another important thing to know is that these colourings often continue to deepen over time. This means the colour sometimes needs a little while to reach full intensity. For example, if you’ve already added quite a bit of black colouring to your buttercream and it still looks anthracite, just wait a few hours — you’ll see the colour become much deeper. The same applies to royal icing, fondant, gumpaste or marzipan. If you have the time, colour your fondant the evening before you plan to use it; by the next day it will be fully developed. Of course, you can also simply buy ready‑made black and red fondant or marzipan in our shop if you prefer 

Here you see two photos. The left photo shows buttercream right after adding Rainbow Dust Progel Black. The right photo shows it a few hours later — the colour has already deepened.



    

Extra colouring tips! If you don’t have time to wait, you can colour a small amount of your buttercream and warm it briefly in the microwave. Heating it will bring the colour to full intensity immediately. Then mix this into the rest of your buttercream. This also helps you determine what the final colour will look like, so you won’t be surprised if your pastel shade suddenly turns out a bit bluer. The same method works for pre‑coloured fondant, marzipan, etc. First colour a small piece and wait until the colour has fully developed. Then add white if needed to reach the exact shade you want.

Looking for food colouring? Take a look at our wide range of colourings in the webshop.

 

]]> Sun, 19 Sep 2021 20:22:00 +0000 <![CDATA[Help! My Buttercream Has Split!]]> In the shop I’m often asked why buttercream sometimes turns grainy or watery. It’s a common issue: the buttercream has split. But what actually happens when buttercream splits, why does it occur, and—most importantly—how do you fix it? In this blog I’ll walk you through everything.

What Is Split Buttercream?

If your buttercream looks grainy and you see tiny droplets of moisture on the surface (or worse, a puddle at the bottom of the bowl), your buttercream has split. This means the fat from the butter and the liquid in the mixture have separated and no longer form a smooth emulsion. The flavour is still fine, but the texture becomes gritty and the appearance… well, not ideal. Luckily, you don’t need to throw it away. Later on I’ll show you how to make it silky and smooth again. First, let’s look at why buttercream splits so you can prevent it next time.

Why Does Buttercream Split?

The most common cause is a temperature difference between ingredients. If your butter is still cold while the rest of your ingredients are at room temperature, the mixture can easily split. Always make sure everything is roughly the same temperature before mixing.

Another cause is adding a thin liquid to thick butter too quickly. The difference in consistency can shock the mixture. You can prevent this by “introducing” the ingredients first: mix a small amount of the thinner liquid into the buttercream before adding the rest. They get to know each other and blend much more happily.

My Buttercream Has Split — Now What?

Sometimes splitting is unavoidable. Buttercream that has been stored in the fridge or freezer almost always splits when you rewhip it. Adding food colouring can also cause it occasionally.

The good news: you can bring split buttercream back together by gently warming it. Place the bowl briefly in warm water or heat it in the microwave for 10–15 seconds (a bit longer if it’s very cold). Be careful: if it melts, it’s ruined. After warming, whip the buttercream vigorously and you’ll see it turn beautifully smooth again.

Left: split buttercream (coloured with ochre yellow). Right: the result after gently warming and rewhipping.





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