How To Rehydrate Your Dehydrated Sourdough Starter
If you are just beginning sourdough, you’ve likely purchased an established, dehydrated starter, and now you’re wondering how in the world these dried up chunks of flour and water are going to give you an entire loaf of bread.
Let’s show you how to bring it back to life!
If you are new to sourdough, check out my list of supplies you will need for baking these beautiful loaves!
What You Need To Rehydrate Your Sourdough Starter:
Dehydrated starter
Unbleached flour or bread flour
Room temperature water
Glass jar
Directions on Rehydrating Sourdough Starter:
Day 1 of sourdough starter rehydration:
Combine 10g of dehydrated starter and 30g of luke warm water in a clean jar. Stir until completely dissolved. Use filtered or distilled water if your water contains chlorine.
Add 20g of flour and stir until combined.
Cover with a damp towel and let it sit until the next day.
Day 2:
Add 15g of flour and 15g of luke warm water to your jar and stir.
Cover again and let it sit until the next day.
Day 3:
By this point you should be seeing a good amount of fermentation bubbles. This is a good sign.
Again, add 15g flour and 15g of luke warm water to the jar and stir.
Day 4:
On day 4 we are going to increase our feeding a little. Your starter should be showing signs of being able to handle larger feedings, such as many bubbles and a nice sourdough smell. Add 50g flour and 50g luke warm water and stir.
Note where the top of your starter is on the side of the jar. It should begin to rise quite a bit after this feeding.
Day 5:
Give your starter one more good feeding of 50g flour and 50g water. Wait a couple of hours and it should rise, be bubbly and be all set for baking.
Now you’re ready to bake all sorts of delicious recipes. If you are new to sourdough, you’ll want to check out my Simple Sourdough guide that walks you through the entire process of maintaining your starter, baking both round loaves and sandwich loaves, and includes many recipes to use your discard.