So you’ve taken up the challenge of sourdough baking. You’ve made a starter, fed and nurtured it over several weeks. Basically it’s become your favourite pet! Well I’d like to share a handy tip with you.
Your starter is wonderfully bubbly and active. You’re baking once or twice a week because you have time and it works with your schedule at the moment. What happens if you want to have a break from baking or you’re going away for an extended period of time? Maintaining a starter can seem like a big commitment however there are ways to manage it and make it fit into your schedule.
Dehydrating your starter provides you with an insurance and it’s a great way to have a backup. It can keep for at least 6 months and you can even share it with others. A great gift for a novice baker!
By using the following method you can capture the symbiotic cultures that are lactobacillus, to then re-hydrate when necessary.
Dehydrated Sourdough Starter
Ingredients
- 25 g active sourdough starter
- 100 g strong white flour
- 100 g water
Instructions
- From your maintenance starter take 25g and place it into a clean jar. Add the flour and water and mix with a spoon. This is now a leaven and can be used to bake with.
- When the leaven has fully risen, take half to use to make a loaf of bread. The remaining half to dehydrate.
- Smear the starter on parchment paper on a baking tray. Now leave at room temperature or even in a linen cupboard for 2-3 days, to completely dry out.
- When it has dried out, peel away the parchment and break it up into small shards. Store in a jam jar.
To revive
- Put your dehydrated starter in a jug and add water to cover. Stir every few hours so the flakes absorb the water. It should take approximately 4 hours.
- Now you need to feed your starter and leave it out until it begins to bubble.
- When you see a few bubbles feed again. Leave for 12 hours.
- There after feed and discard your starter again and leave for 12 hours. You should see a rise and fall, which means that your starter is healthy and active again.
How to make a sourdough starter
How long does it usually take before you start seeing bubbles in step 2 of revive?
Hi Mary, it’s very hard to say as it very much depends on your environment. My suggestion would be to put it in a fairly warm ambient environment. If you don’t see any activity, discard half and feed two or three times over 12-18 hours. You should see some activity then.
Thanks! I am in Mexico living on a boat, so my temperatures vary in the galley. I woke up today and it is bubbly! I’m going to give it a feeding, which brings me to another question. It doesn’t say to remove any before the next two feedings. Is that correct?
I wouldn’t remove any for the first feed but there after, discard and feed as you would normally. Living on a boat in Mexico sounds lovely from a cold and wet UK! 😀
Hi Louise, thanks for all of this information. Ive followed your starter guide and just have what might be a silly question. Whilst sorting my first feed last night I noticed that my starter is very ‘chatty’ and wanted to check this was normal? From about 2 feet away i can hear it popping and gurgling like a broken frog.
Is this a good sign or not please (the starter not the frog) thanks again
Claude
Hi Claude,
‘Chatty’ is a really good sign, it shows you have activity in your starter which is exactly what you want. Well done!
Louise