Rehydrating Sourdough Starter
If you’ve got a packet of dehydrated sourdough starter, whether gifted by a friend, purchased at a local farm or from your favorite website, or dried from your own active starter, I’m here to guide you through rehydrating it step by step. With years of hands-on sourdough baking and testing under my belt, I’ve rehydrated countless starters and know what works best, so you can feel confident that this method will get your starter bubbly, active, and ready for delicious bakes!
When you are deciding to start your sourdough journey, you need to get a starter! You can either make your own sourdough starter, buy one, or get one from a friend like I did. If you buy one, often times you'll get a bag full of powdery chunks, and you're sitting there staring at it saying to yourself "now what?".
Fear not, I've got you! With a little patience and some flour and water, you'll be baking sourdough French bread, Dutch oven sourdough bread, or same day sourdough bread in no time!
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What is a Dehydrated Sourdough Starter?
A dehydrated sourdough starter is simply a starter that’s been dried out to preserve it. It’s a combination of wild yeast and bacteria that, when activated, ferments and leavens bread. Drying the starter removes its moisture, making it shelf-stable and perfect for long-term storage or shipping.
When you’re ready to use it, you just add water and flour to wake it up and get ready to start baking all sorts of sourdough recipes!
Ingredients Needed for Rehydrating Sourdough Starter
- Dehydrated sourdough starter. You can buy one or you can dehydrate your own sourdough starter.
- Flour. Just like all sourdough recipes, it's best to use an unbleached flour. Whole wheat flour or rye flour are great options too that will give your starter a nutty flavor too.
- Water. Use unfiltered water for this to make sure you don't have any weird chemicals or flavors in your starter.
Be sure to check out the printable recipe card for full recipe information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Rehydrate a Sourdough Starter
Rehydrating a sourdough starter is pretty straightforward, but patience is key. Here’s exactly how to bring your dehydrated sourdough starter to life.
Day 1
- Step 1: Add 25 grams of the dehydrated sourdough starter in a clean jar or bowl.
- Step 2: Pour 50 grams lukewarm water over the starter. Stir gently until the starter is mostly dissolved. Don’t worry if there are a few small clumps. They will hydrate eventually.
- Step 3: Let the mixture sit for about an hour or two. This gives the dehydrated starter time to absorb the water.
- Step 4: Stir in 50 grams all-purpose flour to form a thick paste. Cover the jar loosely with a lid or a clean kitchen towel. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 12–24 hours. If you don’t see bubbles yet, don’t panic! Patience is key!
Day 2
- Step 5: On day 2 or 12-24 hours later, discard half the mixture (or use it in a sourdough discard recipe) and feed it with 50 grams water and 50 grams flour in a new mason jar.
- Step 6: Repeat every 12 hours. Once you have a starter that has risen, start using 100 grams of water, 100 grams of starter, and 100 grams of water to get more starter growing.
Day 3-5
In 2–5 days, you should see bubbles and notice a tangy smell as long as you keep feeding it every 12-24 hours. This means your starter is active again!
Lynn's Tip!
Once your starter doubles in size within 4–6 hours of feeding, it’s ready to use in your favorite sourdough recipes.
Tips and Tricks
- Keep your starter in a warm spot (but not too hot!). Around 70–75°F is ideal. You also don't want it too cold or the starter will take a really long time to double in size and become active again.
- Your starter should have the consistency of thick pancake batter. Adjust with a little more flour or water as needed.
- A kitchen scale is an important sourdough tool to have on hand to get the most accurate measurements.
- When you get your dehydrated starter, you may want to start baking within a few hours, but patience is key! It can take a few days for a dehydrated starter to fully revive. Don’t rush it!
Sourdough Recipes for Your Starter
Your sourdough starter isn’t just for baking bread, you can use it in so many recipes! Use it to make the best fluffy sourdough pancakes, crispy sourdough waffles, or buttery biscuits for breakfast.
You can also use it to make pizza dough, sourdough cornbread, or even sourdough pretzel bites for the big game. If you’re in the mood for sweets, sourdough adds a delicious tang to sourdough carrot cake, sourdough chocolate chip muffins, or sourdough discard cinnamon rolls!
The possibilities are truly endless for what your sourdough starter can do!
How To Store a Sourdough Starter
To store a sourdough starter, you can keep it at room temperature if you bake frequently or in the refrigerator if you don't bake sourdough bread in a daily basis .
For room-temperature storage, feed your starter every 12 hours to maintain its activity.
For refrigerated storage, feed it as usual, let it rest at room temperature for an hour, then cover it loosely and place it in the fridge. It can go up to a week (sometimes two) without feeding.
Before baking, remove it from the fridge, let it warm to room temperature, and give it a couple of feedings to reactivate.
Rehydrating Sourdough Starter FAQs
Discarding helps maintain the right balance of wild yeast and bacteria. It also makes sure that you don't have a huge amount of starter that is hard to maintain.
Yes! Whole wheat and rye flours can help jumpstart fermentation, since they contain more nutrients for the wild yeast.
When stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place, a dehydrated starter can last for years. That's the great thing about dehydrating your own starter!
Feeding your sourdough starter is as simple as giving it fresh flour and water so it stays active and bubbly. I like to remove about half of the starter from the jar (you can use that “discard” in recipes like pancakes or brownies), then mix in equal parts flour and water by weight. Stir it until smooth, cover it loosely, and let it sit at room temperature until it’s doubled in size and full of bubbles.
Rehydrating a sourdough starter usually takes about 5–7 days, depending on the temperature of your kitchen and the strength of the dried starter. Each day, you’ll feed it with fresh flour and water, just like you would an active starter, until it becomes bubbly, rises consistently, and is ready to bake with. Some starters bounce back faster, while others take a little extra patience, but once it’s active again, it will be just as strong as before it was dried.
More Sourdough Resources
📖 Recipe
How To Rehydrate a Sourdough Starter
Equipment
Ingredients
- 25 grams Dehydrated Sourdough Starter
- 50 grams Water
- 50 grams Unbleached All Purpose Flour
Instructions
- Add 25 grams of the dehydrated sourdough starter in a clean jar or mason jar. Pour 50 grams lukewarm water over the starter. Stir gently until the starter is mostly dissolved. Don’t worry if there are a few small clumps. They will hydrate eventually.
- Let the mixture sit for about an hour or two. This gives the dehydrated starter time to absorb the water.
- Stir in 50 grams all-purpose flour to form a thick paste, similar to a thick pancake batter. Cover the jar loosely with a lid or a clean kitchen towel. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 12–24 hours. If you don’t see bubbles yet, don’t panic! Patience is key!
- On day 2 or 12-24 hours later, discard half the mixture (or use it in a sourdough discard recipe) and feed it with 50 grams water and 50 grams flour in a new mason jar.
- Repeat every 12 hours. Once you have a starter that has risen, start using 100 grams of water, 100 grams of starter, and 100 grams of water to get more starter growing.
Notes
- Once your starter doubles in size within 4–6 hours of feeding, it’s ready to use in your favorite sourdough recipes.
- Your starter should have the consistency of thick pancake batter. Adjust with a little more flour or water if it is a little too thick.
