Drying Sourdough Starter

By Kathryn Washburn Breighner

Uncle Gene's Housatonic River, Massachusetts sourdough starter lives on and has been in the family for about 50 years. My sourdough starter buddy sujo had a starter crisis: her starter got tossed by mistake. Since she is in warmer climates for the winter and sending liquid starter by airplane is a recipe for an in air explosion, I dried the starter to send to her.

Just like the night before using the starter, I fed it with 1 c flour, 1 c water and 1 t sugar and left it at room temperature. The next morning, I removed 1 c of starter and spread thinly on the fruit roll up liner for my dehydrator and turned the heat to the lowest setting, 95 degrees F.

24 hours later, the starter had dried on one side and could be peeled away from the surface. I turned it over and broke it into pieces to continue drying for another 24 hours.


On day 3, the pieces were flaking and I put them in the food processor, pulverized and put in a ziplock plastic bag.

To rehydrate, mix 2 t of dried starter with 1 T water and let soften. Add 1/4 c each of flour and water and mix until smooth. Let stand 12-24 hours until it begins to bubble. Then add another 1/4 c each of flour and water, mix and let stand again 4-8 hours until the starter bubbles.

Add 1/2 c each of flour and water, let stand another 4-8 hours until it bubbles. This will make about 1 1/2 c of starter.

Anyone want any starter?