How to Make Dehydrated Sourdough Starter

So you have a healthy sourdough starter but you want to preserve it for later use. How do you do that? Well, it’s super easy. Instead of wondering where to buy sourdough starter, you can dehydrate your own starter and then reactivate it at a later time when you’re ready to use it! I’m going to show you the easy way to dry sourdough starter!

In this post, we’re going to talk about the simple process of dehydrating your active starter, right on your countertop. No dehydrator or complicated process necessary!

First, make your own sourdough starter

If you don’t already have an active starter, you’ll need to make one. But since you’re here, you probably already have your own starter. If not, you can find my sourdough starter recipe here.

Next, dehydrate your sourdough starter

Make sure that your sourdough starter has been active for a few days. Each day you’ll have sourdough discard. You can use this to dehydrate, or just take out a little bit of non-discard to make dry sourdough starter.

How to Dehydrate Sourdough Starter:

1. Simply lay a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on your counter and pour out some of your starter.
2. Next, spread the sourdough starter very thin on the wax/parchment paper.
3. Let the starter and wax/parchment paper set and dry for at least 24 hours. The entire starter should be dry and easy to crumble.
4. Once dry, crumble the starter into smaller pieces and place in an air tight container or plastic bag. Store in your pantry. You can add a moisture absorber too if you’d like!

That’s it! That’s all you do!

This is a really great option if you want or need to take a break from sourdough, or if you’re just scared that your sourdough starter might go bad. Have this stored away in your pantry for later use, and a peace of mind!

How to Rehydrate Your Dehydrated Sourdough Starter

When you’re ready to rehydrate it, here’s what you do.

1. Place your dehydrated starter in a jar with 1/4 cup of water for 3 hours.
2. After 3 hours, add 1 cup of unbleached flour, 1 cup of milk, and 1 tbsp of sugar to your sourdough and water mixture.
3. For the next 3 days, pour off some of the starter and add 1 cup of unbleached flour, 3/4 cup of milk, and 1 tbsp of sugar.
4. Once your starter is rehydrated and active (it takes about 3 to 4 days), you then switch over to feeding it 1/2 cup of unbleached flour and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water everyday after discarding the extra starter.

Other posts you may enjoy:

• Easy Sourdough Starter and Bread Recipe
• Easy Sourdough Pie Crust | Sourdough Discard
• Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls (Long-Fermented)
• Sourdough Dinner Rolls (Long-Fermented)
• Sourdough Biscuits
• Traditional Sourdough Pancakes | Sourdough Discard