Rehydrating Your Sourdough Starter
Whether you were given a dehydrated starter, bought one or reviving a backup here are helpful hints to get it back to its glorious fluffy self!
Skip creating a starter and buy mine- easily rehydrate it within a week to start baking! Click HERE to buy.
You’ll need a few simple items to get started
- 1 Tablespoon dehydrated starter (approx)
- 2 Tablespoons water (not chlorinated)
- 1 Tablespoon organic flour
- Pint or Quart Glass jar
- Spoon or similar to stir
- Cheesecloth or coffee filter
It will take a few days to revive your starter, this will depend on your kitchen and the temperature.
INSTRUCTIONS
Day 1
- In a clean pint-size mason jar or similar, combine 1 tablespoon of dry sourdough starter with 2 tablespoons of water. Allow the dry sourdough starter and water to sit for several minutes to soften and combine. Use a fork or spoon to stir it on occasion.
- Then, mix in 1 tablespoon of flour. Mix thoroughly. Try to avoid making a huge mess of the sides of your jar.
- Cover the jar with a breathable cloth such as cheese cloth or a coffee filter.
- Finally, set the container in a moderately warm location. Come back in about 24 hours.
Into the same jar as yesterday, add 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of water to the starter. Mix well. Cover the jar or container again, and allow it to sit for another 24 hours.
Day 3
By day three, you may start to see fermentation bubbles in the starter! Repeat the same process as yesterday, adding 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of water. Mix, cover, and set aside. During the next 24 hours, your starter may start to rise. You can see “hooch” on top, you can simply pour this off. Hooch is a gray liquid meaning that the sourdough has ate through the yeast & nutrients in the flour.
Day 4
Today we will be adding in more water & flour to bulk up our starter. Take a whiff and see if you can start to notice the smell of yeast and seeing more bubbles.
- This time, add 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water.
- Mix well, until it looks like most of the flour clumps are broken up and the starter is fairly smooth.
- Cover the container, note the level of the starter on the side of the container, and set it aside again. If you’re using a pint jar, it should be about ⅓ full now.
Day 5
Starting today and beyond you should start seeing active bubbly, rising and falling of your starter. If not you’ll need to start discarding & feeding. You can read all about DISCARD & FEEDING HERE
From this day on you’ll be discarding & feeding 1/2 cup flour to 1/4 cup water to achieve a pancake consistency. You may need to add a bit more water go ahead- I would rather have it more wet than dry.
This page —> Learn Sourdough From Starter to Artisan Loaf – Laura Lawrence will be your next best friend, head over there and start at the top – you’ll be able to skip the part of creating your sourdough starter since you already accomplished this! But by watching all the videos in order will really help you understand what sourdough is and how to work with it.
Questions? Email me at Laura@foodprood.com
