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Once your starter is mature, you can dehydrate a small amount so that it will last indefinitely. It’s a great way to reduce the risk of losing your starter to mold or neglect. It means you can always rehydrate some dried starter without having to start again from scratch.
It’s comparable to having an insurance policy on your sourdough starter. You’ll never have to stress if your starter becomes contaminated, goes moldy or the jar breaks.
Table of Contents
- What Equipment Do You Need?
- How To Dry Sourdough Starter
- Benefits of Dry Sourdough Starter
- Using A Dehydrator
- Use A Plastic Container
- How To Store Dried Sourdough Starter
- Tips for Drying Sourdough Starter
- Is It Better to Dry Your Starter or Store it in the Fridge?
- Frequently Asked Questions
- How To Dry Sourdough Starter Recipe
What Equipment Do You Need?
Drying out your sourdough starter is a very easy process and you really don’t need anything special. You’ll need:
- Mature sourdough starter
- Parchment paper or silicon mat (silicon mat makes it super easy)
- Pastry brush or offset spatula
- Ziplock bag or small jar (to store your dried starter in)
Ideally, you want to back up your mature sourdough starter. You don’t want all that time and hard work to go to waste! It’s really not beneficial to dry your sourdough starter in the first few months as it’s still maturing and “coming of age”.
How To Dry Sourdough Starter
Drying out sourdough starter could not be easier! It can be done fairly quickly, as long as the ambient temperature is not too cold.
You simply need to follow these steps:
- Feed your starter to ensure that it has the most active yeast colony. Ideally it should be at peak.
- When your starter is at its peak, use a pastry brush or offset spatula to smear a very thin layer of the starter all over a piece of parchment paper.
- Leave the starter soaked paper in a warm place with good air circulation to dry thoroughly. Be careful not to leave it somewhere that it could get blown off the table as wet starter is not fun to clean up! Plan to leave it for at least 4 – 6 hours.
At an average room temperature of 25ºC (77ºF) your starter should take around 4 to 6 hours to dry completely (it should be dry and crumbly) with no moisture at all. The time it takes to dry will really depend on how thin you spread it onto your paper. Ideally you want it really thin as the thicker it is, the harder it is to dry out. Thickly spread starter also risks going moldy if it takes too long to dry out.
Benefits of Dry Sourdough Starter
Dried or dry sourdough starter is a usually mature sourdough starter that has been dried out so that it now exists in a dehydrated form. All the good bacteria and yeast are still there. You just need to add some flour and water to the small pieces of sourdough starter to reactivate it.
Some of the reasons you might want to dehydrate your sourdough starter are:
- easier to store long term (if you are having a break from sourdough or going on a long vacation)
- easier to travel with or send to friends and family (let’s face it, sharing sourdough starter is one of the joys of being a sourdough baker!).
- You never have to worry about losing your sourdough starter to mold or bad bacteria, or even Kahm yeast. Your starter could literally become a 100 year old sourdough starter in years to come!
- If you have a moldy sourdough starter, you don’t have to start from scratch, you just reactivate your dried starter.
- You don’t have to store your sourdough starter in the fridge or maintain a frozen sourdough starter if you don’t have the room.
Once you want to rehydrate or activate the sourdough starter again, you simply need to add water and flour to the flakes. Check out these instructions for rehydrating a dry sourdough starter.
Using A Dehydrator
You can dehydrate sourdough starter in a dehydrator. You will need to line the trays with parchment paper before you spread the starter on, or it will drip through and make a big mess!
You don’t want to set the dehydrator above 98.6ºF (37ºC) as you will kill the bacteria. If you can set it lower than this, then do so. You just want the air to circulate around your starter and dry it nice and evenly.
I dry my starter in the dehydrator and it works every single time. It doesn’t damage it in any way. It is actually a really efficient way of drying your starter in a short amount of time. In fact, my sourdough starter dries out so well and quite fast in my dehydrator that it actually dries the bubbles!
Kate’s Pro Tip
Use A Plastic Container
Another super easy way to dry your sourdough starter is to feed your starter in plastic container (like a cambro container) and then once you’ve used the starter to bake with, just leave the excess in the container to dry out. After 24 hours, the flakes literally fall out and with no extra work, you’ve got dried sourdough starter and a clean container!
How To Store Dried Sourdough Starter
Whether you store your dried sourdough starter as shards or as a powder or granules is up to you. There’s no real “right way” here, it’s just personal preference. When stored correctly, it will last indefinitely!
If you are going to granulate your dried sourdough starter, make sure that your blender or food processor (or Thermomix) is completely dry. You do not want to introduce any moisture to your now dehydrated starter.
To safely store your dried sourdough starter:
- Simply place the dried shards of sourdough starter into a dry glass jar. Screw the lid on tightly and store in a cool, dark place. I prefer a glass jar but any airtight container is fine.
- Put the dried sourdough starter into a ziplock bag and store away from heat and light.
- Using a vacuum sealer can ensure that your starter is not exposed to air at all. This is a good option if you are posting your sourdough starter through the mail or travelling with it.
- I also love these little sachets with a ziplock top. This is how I share sourdough starter with family and friends.
To show you just how long sourdough starter can last – did you hear about the scientist that baked sourdough bread from 4000 year old Ancient Egyptian yeast? You can read about it here.
Tips for Drying Sourdough Starter
There are a few things you can do to ensure you dry your sourdough starter successfully, with no mold or other problems.
- Use good quality parchment paper. The starter will be quite wet. Cheap parchment paper will absorb the water and rip.
- Keep an eye on the starter as it dries. Break up any thick pieces or parts that don’t seem to be drying as quickly as the other sections.
- While good air circulation is important, don’t place your starter soaked paper too close to a fan or air conditioning vent or it could get blown away. Cleaning up wet sourdough starter from the ground is not fun!
Is It Better to Dry Your Starter or Store it in the Fridge?
It really depends on how long you want to store your sourdough starter and how often you want to bake with it. It’s better to dry your sourdough starter if you aren’t going to bake with it regularly – or at least for the next 6 months. Drying it is pretty foolproof and protects your starter from going bad.
Storing your sourdough starter in the fridge is better if you are still going to bake with your starter regularly, but you don’t want to use it everyday. Ideally, you’ll still feed your sourdough starter regularly, even when it’s in the fridge.
It’s still susceptible to mold and bad bacteria when stored in the fridge, so dehydrating your starter is always better for longer term storage.
| Situation | Fridge | Dehydrate |
|---|---|---|
| Not baking for 6 months while caring for a baby | • | |
| Baking weekly | • | |
| Moving internationally | • | |
| Flying interstate | • | |
| Going on 2 week vacation | • |
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes you can, but just like a dehydrator, you really need to make sure that you keep the temperature very low. You might even want to place the starter into the oven once you’ve turned it off and use the residual heat to dry your starter out. While sourdough starter is quite resilient, high temperatures can be damaging to the yeast and bacteria colonies.
Yes, if you are lucky enough to have a freeze drying machine at home, you can definitely freeze dry your sourdough starter for long term storage.
Freezing will not kill your sourdough starter, in fact while some of the yeast will die off, majority of the yeast will survive. Freezing sourdough starter is a long term storage solution, however drying out your sourdough starter is a better way of storing it long term with less hassle.
How To Dry Sourdough Starter
Equipment
- Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mat
- Pastry Brush or Offset Spatula
Ingredients
- 50 g Sourdough Starter, (at peak, active and bubbly)
Instructions
- Take a piece of parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and lay it out on a baking tray or sheet. This will stop the parchment paper from collapsing if you need to move it later.
- Using a pastry brush or offset spatula, paint your sourdough starter all over the parchment paper ensuring it's not too thick. Try and get it as thin as you can!
- Leave the sourdough starter in a warm place with good air flow to completely dry out. You don't want it to blow around, so make sure that it's not right under an air vent.
- Check the starter periodically and break up any pieces that aren't drying out completely. Breaking them into smaller pieces will help to ensure the starter dries out in a timely manner.
- Once the starter has completely dried out (this can take up to 24 hours depending on how thick you spread it) you can break it up into pieces and place into a clean and dry glass jar.
- Store the dried sourdough starter in a cool, dark place. It will last indefinitely as long as it doesn't touch any moisture.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Hi! Can dehydrated starter be stored in fridge or freezer?
Can you vacuum seal the dehydrated SD starter?
Is there a certain amount that should be dried out?
I don’t have a dehydrator so I used the bread proof option on my oven that set it at 95°F. It took two hours and now I have dried sourdough that I powdered in my vita-mix dry blender. Looking forward to following your directions to rehydrate and see that if I can create another viable sourdough starter to share with friends and family that do not live close to me. Thank you for the very clear and easy instructions to do this!
How much powder do you need to reactivate it?
i painted 5 sheets of starter and placed them in the oven overnight (turned off) and woke up to no change. i believe since I had so many sheets in the oven, it was too damp to dry. I laid the sheets on the kitchen table waiting for them to dry. Was leaving them out in the air the wrong thing to do?
How is the best way to make a pancake mix using dehydrated sourdough? Can it be done without rehydrating the dehydrated sourdough?
I was wondering…can I dehydrate my starter say on Tuesday of one week and on Tuesday of a different week, powder them and add the powder of all of them in the same little Mason jar till it’s full or do I need separate jars because they aren’t dehydrated the same day ? I’d love an answer 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
You can do this for sure, mixing them all together is perfectly fine 🙂
Thank you so much for answering me ♥️
I am currently dehydrating my discard and then powdering it to add to my chicken feed. I dehydrate on a silicon baking mat. It is super easy to spread thin and then peel off. Sometimes I only dehydrate for a couple of hours, then freeze it on the silicon mat, then it peels off easily, I flip it over and dehydrate some more with the other side up…
Once my starter is a good bit more mature, I will dehydrate some as back up like you suggest.
I dried out some of my starter but left it drying for a week. It looks fine and if still in a dry place. Is it still ok to save?
Absolutely it’s fine.
Hi! I truly appreciate all of your recipes and help. Someone told me I have to store my dehydrated starter in the freezer, is that true? I have had mine on the shelf so far, in a cool dry pantry.
Thank you! That makes me so happy! No you don’t need to store your dehydrated sourdough starter in the freezer. You can store it successfully in the pantry, as long as it’s cool and dry, it will be perfectly fine 🙂 xx
Hi. I stay in a tropical climate country and as such temperature is usually in the 30s + degrees C with high humidity. I don’t have a dehydrator. Can you recommend an alternative solution for drying the sourdough starter. Thanks
I would try setting your oven to it’s lowest setting, leave it on for a little bit to warm up and then turn off and add the sourdough starter. This will protect it from mold and humidity. You’ll need to keep an eye on it though.
Should I give my starter a maintenance feed before trying to dehydrate it? Otherwise I don’t think it will be very bubbly…
Absolutely – you want it at peak 🙂