Activating A Dried Sourdough Starter

Instructions for activating a dried sourdough starter that will work whether you're using sourdough starter you've dried yourself, been gifted by a friend or purchased.

Course Sourdough Starter

Cuisine American, French

Keyword Sourdough Starter

Prep Time 0

Cook Time 0

Fermentation Time 3

Total Time 3

Servings Jar of Starter

Equipment

Clean Jar
Digital Scale

Ingredients

20 g Dried Sourdough Starter
300 g Flour of your choice (enough for around 6 feeds of 50g)
300 g Warm Water (enough for around 6 feeds of 50g)

Instructions

DAY 1 - MORNING
Starting with a clean jar, add 20g of dried sourdough starter. Add 50g of warm water and stir it together until the starter is completely covered and coated by the water.
Now add 50g of flour and stir in well, ensuring that you get plenty of oxygen into the mixture.
Cover with a paper towel or coffee filter secured with an elastic band and leave for approximately 12 hours.
DAY 1 - AFTERNOON
After 12 hours, feed the starter with 50g of warm water and 50g of flour.
Mix it really well, getting plenty of oxygen into the mixture.
Cover with a paper towel or coffee filter secured with an elastic band and leave for approximately 12 hours.
DAY 2 - MORNING
After 12 hours, discard all but 50g of your starter (you could just place 50g of the starter into a clean jar and get rid of the rest).
Add 50g of water and 50g of flour to your mixture.
Give it a really good stir to get plenty of oxygen into the mix.
Cover with a paper towel or coffee filter secured with an elastic band and leave for approximately 12 hours.
DAY 2 - AFTERNOON
After 12 hours, discard all but 50g of your starter (you could just place 50g of the starter into a clean jar and get rid of the rest).
Add 50g of water and 50g of flour to your mixture.
Give it a really good stir to get plenty of oxygen into the mix.
DAY 3 - MORNING
Discard all but 50g of your starter (you could just place 50g of the starter into a clean jar and get rid of the rest).
Add 50g of water and 50g of flour to your mixture.
Give it a really good stir to get plenty of oxygen into the mix.
You'll need to repeat step 3 above every 12 hours for around 3-7 days. You want your starter to become bubbly and consistently doubling after each feed.
Once it is doing this consistently, it will be ready to bake with.

Notes

Depending on the type of flour you use, the initial mixture will seem quite dry - don't worry it will thin out as the starter begins to activate. If you're really worried, spray a little water onto the top of the mixture.