Did you know that you can dehydrate and then freeze sourdough starter to preserve it? It is a fabulous way to have already live starter on hand.
Here are instructions for creating a starter, maintaining it and then dehydrating, storing and using it later. I am trying to keep it simple so everyone will be able to make starter and preserve it.
Sourdough Starter
First you make your starter. I don’t do it exactly like the professionals. I just put 1 cup of flour, enough pure water to make it like a thick pancake batter, stir it really well, cover it with a clean cotton cloth and let it sit 12 hours.
After 12 hours I pour off any liquid (it’s called hooch because it’s alcohol-smelling) and I pour off about half the starter. Then I feed it again. When I feed I use 1/2 cup flour and a scant 1/2 cup of pure water, or enough water to make it like a thick pancake batter.
Wait 12 hours and do that again. So I pour off and feed it every 12 hours. That’s how to build a really strong sourdough starter. About 3-4 hours after a feeding is when the starter will usually be ready to use. It should be bubbly and have increased in size a little.
Now, here are some Notes.
- You don’t have to pour off the starter if you want a bunch of starter. Most recipes only call for a little starter, but sometimes you need a whole lot. So keep the starter from feeding to feeding instead of pouring it off. You CAN pour off any hooch accumulated. Hooch will make your final bread product more sour tasting, so if you like that, just keep the hooch in the starter. It will take longer for this to be ready to use but you can build the volume of your starter like this.
- The kind of flour you use is up to you but I use white bread flour. I also have made starter using whole grain flour, rye flour and spelt flour. Unless you’re advanced in sourdough making or gluten-free, you can just start with white bread flour. It’s the easiest. For instructions on those other flours and gluten-free, you’ll have to wait a while, I’ll address those in a future post.
- The more pure your water is the better. If you don’t have a whole house water filtration system (I don’t) you can use a filter like a Brita that will remove impurities like chlorine. That’s what I use. Chlorine in your water will hinder your starter. I won’t say it’s impossible but you will see a marked difference in your starter if you use filtered water. Or you could use fancy schmancy bottled water that contains no chlorine.
- As a general rule you should feed your starter every 12 hours. After a couple of feedings you should see it become bubbly and fragrant. This most often occurs about 3-4 hours after feeding. This is when it’s ready to use for baking.
- If you can, get yourself a seedling mat from Amazon. Here is the one I have, this is not an affiliate link. Seedling Mat. You can see that it is not expensive. It has made all the difference in the world for my starters. I wrap it around my wide mouth mason jar and hold it there with the rubber band that came with it. The gentle heat helps the starter take off. You’ll have to work with it and remove the starter jar from the mat now and then, put it back , etc. to find the optimum time on the heat.
- If you decide you’re not going to bake and don’t want to continue to feed the starter daily you can cover it with a lid and move it to the refrigerator. You should feed it weekly if it is in the fridge.
OR …… you can dehydrate your starter and store it in the freezer for ….. well practically forever. A year any way.
Dehydrating Sourdough Starter
I use a Cosori 6 tray dehydrator. This is not an affiliate link. My Excalibur finally fell apart. It still works though so I will use it now and then I’m sure. I am thinking of taking it outdoors under a shelter to use,
I spread about 1/2 cup of the active, just fed about 3-4 hours ago, starter on some parchment paper which I have laid on one of the Cosori trays. I spread it as thinly as I can but I’ve seen some people just spread it to maybe 1/4 inch. It will all work.
Then after all the trays are filled, I set the temperature on 95*F. That’s as low as the Cosori goes. You could go lower to 90*F if you want. It’s important not to go higher or you will kill some of the wild yeast and bacteria and you want to keep as much of that alive as possible.
You can see the little baggie in this photo
Crispy, crumbly, dehydrated starter
I had in my mind that it would take a long time to dry the starter but it only took maybe 3 hours. I think that is because I spread it so thinly. You want it to be completely dry and crisp.
You could do this in an oven if the temperature can be set low enough. You could prop open the oven door, but you’d need to really keep an eye on the temperature because you definitely don’t want to bake the starter.
Then when it is dry, I fold up the parchment paper over the starter and break it into small pieces. I do this so I don’t touch it with my hands, which are clean of course but I don’t want to get the little crumbs all over my hands.
I put about 1/4 cup in a baggie and then put all the baggies in the freezer. MY PLAN though is to put the dehydrated starter into small, 1/4 pint jars and put those in the freezer. Since the starter is dry, it will not expand and cause the jars to break.
Baggies containing dehydrated starter in a Zwilling Vacuum bag, ready for the freezer
I have put all the baggies into a Zwilling vacuum bag for now.
Using the dehydrated starter
I will store the baggies or jars until time to use them and then I’ll scoop out about 2 Tablespoons of the starter and place it into a wide mouth mason jar, then add a scant 1/4 cup of pure water to the starter and stir vigorously. Wait for 4-5 minutes, stir again.
Now it should be softened up and ready for the first feeding. Add 1/4 cup flour and beat the mixture really well, incorporating lots of air. Cover with a clean cloth and let it sit in a warm place for 12 hours.
Dehydrated starter and water. After 12 hours it’s time for the second feeding. The second feeding will be just like the starter feedings I described above, 1/2 cup flour and a scant 1/2 cup pure water to make that thick batter.
Rehydrated starter, ready to sit for 12 hours.
Then you can continue on with this starter just like you began. If you have questions, please ask! I think you’ll love having starter on hand that you don’t have to feed til you’re ready.
Hello and welcome! I'm Sylvia Britton, and I've been online since 1996 offering encouragement and help in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 at Christian Homekeeper. CHK is the original Homekeeping site on the internet
