Rehydrating My Sourdough Starter

I was recently talking to a friend, she shared with me her starter got contaminated and grew mold all over it. She had to toss it and was so sad. She was able to get some from a neighbor, but it got me thinking. I had to figure out a way to dehydrate my starter and store it in a safe environment for long term storage incase something like this were to happen to me.

Although I do have a dehydrator, many don't, so that’s when I went experimenting on how to easily dehydrate it without any special equipment. It was super successful and was able to bag it all up for long term shelf storage.

But now the trick was seeing if I was able to rehydrate it down the road if I ever needed to. Before I tried I did lots of research online reading different blogs and watching video in it and it all seemed super intimidating and complicated. I knew it couldn’t be that difficult. I was able to rehydrate it and bake a loaf of bread in three short days. Follow the steps below for your easy guide on how to rehydrate your sourdough starter. I will caveat that every kitchen is different. I may take more days for you. I’ve included what to do if that is the case.

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Day One:

In a clean quart mason jar add:

• 5 grams (approx. 1 teaspoon) of dehydrated starter

• 50 grams (approx. 4 Tablespoons) hot water

Mix together and allow to sit for 2 hours to rehydrate.

Next, add:

30 grams (approx. 3 Tablespoons) of organic flour

Mix together, cover with a paper towel or something to allow the starter to get air, but keep any contaminants out. Set in the warmest part of your kitchen; I set mine on the windowsill next to my kitchen sink.

Day Two and Three:

Add:

• 25 grams (approx. 2 Tablespoons) Water

• 30 grams (approx. 3 Tablespoons) flour

Mix together, top with paper towel and set back in the warm spot. Repeat 24 hours later for day three. By the end of day three mine was bubbly, rising double and passing the float test. If that is not the case for you proceed to the following steps.

Day four and on:

Discard half of your starter. No need to measure, just eyeball.

Add:

• 25 grams (approx. 2 Tablespoons) Water

• 30 grams (approx. 3 Tablespoons) flour

Continue these steps until your starter is bubbling, rising and passing the float test.

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Once your starter has reconstituted and is ready, you may now use as normal and bake all your sourdough recipes. Let me know if you have any questions or have tried this, I would love to hear from you.

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