Okay, so you made dehydrated sourdough starter before you were travelling, or simply because you wanted to, or you bought some from me, and you are wondering what to do with those lovely little flakes of magic, and how they are somehow going to get you bread…
Let’s get that dehydrated sourdough starter working for you!
Some Kitchen Tools You Need:
- Mason Jar
- None metal spatula (for stirring Starter)
- Food scale
Food Items You Need:
- Dehydrated Sourdough Starter
- Unbleached (white) flour [ideally, 100% Canadian wheat]
- Room temperature water (purified/distilled)
Directions:
The sourdough I send out comes with 11g of starter (a little extra, just in case), so I base these measurements off using 10g. You can also half all these measurements and give yourself excess dehydrated starter to have saved for future, or to share!
Day 1:
- Place 10g of dehydrated sourdough starter in a mason jar, and pour 30g of purified/distilled water over it. Stir with non-metal spatula and let sit for 10 minutes, or until powder has fully dissolved.
- Add 20g of unbleached flour to the starter and stir with a non-metal spatula. Let sit at room temperature uncovered until the next day.
- On this day if you’re finding it too thick, you may need to add a touch more water – you want it to be like a batter.
- There is a likely chance, you’ll start seeing life – some bubbles and rising – within 6-8 hours!!
Day 2:
- If there is a “crusty” layer, scoop that out and discard it.
- Feed the starter equal parts unbleached flour with equal parts purified/distilled water. The amount is really your choosing. But, if you like specifics, mix in 40g unbleached white flour with 40g water (purified/distilled), and stir using a non-metal spatula.
- Let sit at room temperature uncovered until the next day.
Day 3:
- With my dehydrated sourdough starter, by this point I’ve found it more than ready to feed and use, but I don’t want to get in trouble from the sourdough experts for saying this. Many will tell you to keep feeding it for a few more days, but I’ve honestly found it bubbly and thriving, so you can either keep feeding it daily and leaving it out and it will do no harm, or you can feed it and get ready to make a loaf, [or if it’s thriving, and you don’t want to make a loaf, you can pop the lid on and put it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it again]!
Storing and Feeding
When you aren’t using your starter, it can stay covered in the fridge – this will keep it from molding, and keep you from having to feed it everyday – remember, simplify!! When you are going to bake with it, pull it out of the fridge, “feed it” (giving it equal parts flour and water and letting it rise), and use it. Since you are not feeding it everyday, if you want extra discard for recipes, feed it more, or feed it more often, and pull out the extra “discard” (inactive starter). Otherwise, you could simply carry on without discard. Your starter will happily live in the fridge un-used for 2 weeks or more. My friend would say up to 4 weeks. If I am going to be gone or not use it for 2 weeks, I’ll usually give it a feed before I leave and once I get back. The mason jar will eventually get messy and you may want to move it over to a fresh mason jar – this is a-okay! Remember to share some starter with friends – pass the sourdough love around!
Enjoy your Sourdough!
20 starter. 60 water. 40 flour.