A dried sourdough starter is the same culture as a live one, just asleep. Waking it up takes three days of simple feeds and then a little patience until it doubles. This is the same routine printed on the card that comes with our dehydrated starter, with a bit more detail on each step. Ours comes back to life in about 72 hours.
What you need
- Your dried starter.
- Plain flour or strong white bread flour. We feed ours on Marriage's Organic Strong White, which you can find with our other flours for sourdough.
- Lukewarm water.
- A clean glass jar with a lid you can rest on loosely. A WECK jar works well, because the lid sits on top without sealing unless you clip it.
- Digital scales, so every feed is weighed rather than guessed.
Day 1: rehydrate
- Tip the dried starter into a clean jar.
- Add 50g of lukewarm water and stir well.
- Add 50g of flour and mix to a thick, pasty consistency.
- Cover loosely and leave it in a warm place for 24 hours.
Nothing much will happen on the first day. That is normal: the culture is only just taking on water.
Day 2: the first feed
- Add a further 50g of lukewarm water.
- Add 50g of flour.
- Stir well to combine.
- Cover loosely and leave it for another 24 hours in a warm spot.
There is no discarding yet. You are building up the amount of starter in the jar.
Day 3: discard and feed
By now you should see small bubbles. That is the yeast waking up.
- Discard half of the mixture.
- Feed what is left with 50g of lukewarm water and 50g of flour.
- Stir, cover loosely and leave it in a warm spot.
The half you remove does not have to go in the bin. Our feeding guide has a few ideas for using sourdough discard.
Day 4 onwards: feed daily until it doubles
Keep feeding once a day in the same way: discard half, then add 50g of water and 50g of flour. Your starter is ready to use when it:
- doubles in size within a few hours of a feed,
- is full of bubbles, and
- smells fresh and pleasantly sour.
Once it is doubling reliably, treat it like any live starter. Our guide on how to feed your sourdough starter covers the everyday routine, how to keep it in the fridge between bakes, and what to do if it misbehaves.
No bubbles by day 3?
Warmth is nearly always the answer. A cold kitchen slows everything down, so move the jar somewhere warmer, such as an airing cupboard, and keep feeding once a day. Check you are weighing the flour and water rather than measuring by eye. Some starters simply take an extra day or two.
Storing your dried starter before you use it
Unopened, a dried starter is happy in a cool, dry cupboard until you are ready. That is the main reason people choose it over a live one. If you are still deciding between the two, our guide to live vs dried sourdough starter sets out the difference.
What to bake first
When your starter is lively, our beginner sourdough guide takes you through your first loaf, step by step.
Stuck?
Email us at support@sourdoughsupply.co.uk and we will be more than happy to help.
Ingredients: dried sourdough starter (wheat flour, water). Contains gluten.
