I love my sourdough starter and I would be heartbroken if
something happened to it
That is why I started dehydrating my starter
This preserves it as a shelf stable powder that has no maintenance
Dehydrated sourdough starter lasts years and can save you if something happens to your main starter
It is also way easier to sell or share with others in dehydrated form!
What is the purpose of a dehydrated sourdough starter?
Sourdough starter is a live creature
That means that it can die
It is hard to kill a mature sourdough starter, but it does happen
Dehydrated sourdough starter stays good on a shelf for years with no maintenance
So if your sourdough starter does die, you can easily revive some of your dehydrated sourdough starter to get it back
You can also give it to friends, family, or sell it easier
How long does it take to revive dehydrated sourdough starter
It takes between 4 and 7 days usually to revive a dehydrated sourdough starter
This is dependent on how warm your home is, how active the starter was when it was dehydrated, and how good you are about feeding it
Do you need a dehydrator to dehydrate sourdough starter?
No, you do not need a dehydrator to dehydrate sourdough starter
The only thing you need is a cooking sheet with parchment paper on top
You can speed up the process by using the oven or a dehydrator, but it isn’t required
How to dehydrate sourdough starter
Dehydrating sourdough starter is super simple
Take a tray or cooking sheet and line it with parchment paper
Wait for your sourdough starter to be fully active and spread it very thin on the parchment paper
You want this as thin as possible
Leave it out to dry overnight or put it in the oven at 150 degrees for 3 hours
Do not let it go over 165 degrees
The sourdough starter should be completely dry
Grind the dried starter into a powder (or small pieces like i did) using a spice grinder or a blender
Store in a completely dry jar until you’re ready to use it
How to revive sourdough starter
Reviving sourdough starter is simple, but it does take some time
It can take somewhere between 4 and 7 days to revive it to full strength
But you will see some activity on day 1
To get it started, Add 5g of dehydrated sourdough starter to a jar and mix in 5g of warm water
Let that sit for a few minutes before adding 5g of flour and 5g of warm water
Mix and lightly cover the jar
Do not make it airtight
You will see very slight bubbles start to form
Let it sit for 12 hours before adding adding 10g of flour and 10g of warm water
That is the end of day 1
For day 2, remove half the sourdough starter and feed it 10g of flour and 10g of warm water
By this point, I just estimate my measurements
Repeat this every 12 hours for 3 days
At the end of 3 days, you can start feeding once a day instead of twice a day if you want
Your revived sourdough starter will be bubbly at this point but it won’t be super strong
Keep feeding once or twice a day until the sourdough starter doubles in size 8-12 hours after a feeding
And that’s it!
