Dehydrated starter how-to
Rehydration of 20g starter
I did not jump on the 2020 sourdough craze but now, I’m obsessed with it! I knew little about how it worked & never imagined achieving such great results, & with gluten free? But, yes, it’s possible and you can too.
Drying the starter removes the water but preserves the wild yeast colonies & beneficial lactic acid bacteria. It expedites your sourdough endeavors and gets you baking bread much faster than if you made a starter from scratch.
This starter took a long time to mature. It was made solely with organic brown rice flour, filtered water, time and care. Please read the notes at the end of the post that I hope can help you even more.
Happy baking!
Ingredients:
20 g Gusto Dried Sourdough Starter
300 g -500 g brown rice flour or your choice (enough for around 8 feeds of 50g)
300 g - 500 g Warm filtered Water (enough for around 8 feeds of 50g)
A clean glass jar
A coffee filter, cheesecloth or paper towel
A plastic or wooden spoon for mixing
Note:: Use a great quality flour because it can take off faster due to the increased natural yeast cells* and micro organisms found on the flour itself. I worked with and love Canadian Anitas’s organic brown rice flour.
(*Yeast cells are the micro organisms that digest the flour & water in your sourdough starter, producing carbon dioxide. It's this carbon dioxide that makes your sourdough starter rise.)
Note
Measure the container prior to starting the rehydration. Then placing the container on the scale, remove the discard by subtracting backwards.
For example, container weighs 633 g, so to keep a base of 50 g starter, your weight needs to be 683 g after discard is removed.
DAY 1 - MORNING - Starting with a clean jar, add the dried starter to the jar. Add 50g - 60 g of warm water and stir it together until the starter is completely covered by the water. The first hydration may feel very dry so it’s ok to add a little more water than 50 g.
Add 50g of flour and stir in well, ensuring that you get plenty of oxygen into the mixture. I use a small wooden or plastic spoon for this as metal reacts. Cover with cheesecloth, a paper towel or coffee filter & secured with an elastic band and leave outside for about 12 hours. See notes below.
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 again 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 & secure again either elastic for about 12 hours.
DAY 2 - AFTERNOON After 12 hours, discard all but 50g of your starter & repeat the process from morning. Set aside for 12 hours or so again.
Repeat these steps for 3-7 days until the starter is bubbling and almost doubling in size every day.
Notes:
These are my recommendations for how I made the starter. I use a 1:1:1 ratio, meaning equal parts of flour to starter to water. (It works for me but many others use different ratios, so feel free to experiment.) Check out Mary Thompson & her Gluten Free sourdough book here.
Clean the jar after every mix with your rubber spatula or wooden spoon so the sides are clean. Do NOT use metal to mix the ingredients.
I like to use cheesecloth with a rubber band as a cover, but you can use a coffee filter or a piece of kitchen towel.
In winter I like to wrap my jar with a tea towel and place beside my gas fireplace pilot light. It worked great!
I usually find the recommendation of 50 g each water & flour works great, but your flour & environment may differ. You can add up to 10 g water if needed but, the mix should always be like cake batter. The test is after adding the water shake the glass jar a little and the top of the mix should flatten.
Change the jar every week or place the starter in another container while washing the jar.