Ben Starr

The Ultimate Food Geek

  • Welcome to The Ultimate Food Geek

    Welcome to The Ultimate Food Geek

    I’m Ben Starr, and whether you discovered me by watching YouTube, MasterChef, HGTV, or The Rachael Ray Show, or if you’ve been a follower of my previous website, benstarr.com, across much of its 20 year existence, you are very welcome here. This site is currently focused on Simple Sourdough recipes, as that’s what’s hot on…


  • Simple Sourdough in a Hurry

    Ben Starr, the Ultimate Food Geek, shows you a “cheat” method for getting a loaf of “sourdough” on the table in 2 hours, for those occasions when guests are suddenly coming to dinner and want your famous bread, but you didn’t start a loaf yesterday. Microwave-haters…beware!!! Related videos: How to make sourdough starter.Troubleshooting Simple Sourdough…


  • Simple Sourdough Sandwich Bread (for lazy people)

    Ben Starr, the Ultimate Food Geek, teaches a simple sourdough sandwich bread with no kneading, slapping, or folding, using unfed, cold starter straight from the fridge. (For printable recipe, move to the bottom!) My favorite kitchen scale. (Restaurant grade, takes AA batteries or plug in.) My Pullman loaf pan. My favorite bread knife. (offset handle,…


  • Simple Sourdough for Lazy People

    This recipe has gone viral on YouTube, as it’s vastly easier than most of the other sourdough recipes out there. Please use sleepy, unfed starter straight from your fridge. No kneading for more than a few seconds. No levain/preferments. No stretching, slapping, or folding. Just 5 minutes of effort on day 1. And 5 more…