Monday, January 20, 2025

Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty

The week before last, as I was cleaning out the fridge, I decided to rescue my sourdough starter from the far depths in which it had been slumbering since sometime last spring.

Yes, last spring.

Sourdough starter is hardier than most people know.

My two jars, whom I lovingly nicknamed Doughlores and Rebreadkah, were covered in about an inch of hooch but were otherwise unbothered by their long sleep. I poured off most of the hooch so that I could fully inspect each jar for mold, and, finding none, I set about waking the starter.



After several cycles of feedings and discarding, the starters were awake and ready to bake with.



I put most of the discard into my compost drum but saved some for one of my employees. Then, I decided to dehydrate all of Rebreadkah since I don't bake enough to maintain two large jars of starter.

Dehydrating the starter will preserve it indefinitely or until I'm ready to rehydrate it and start feeding it again. If you are on a sourdough journey and find yourself with a lot of extra starter, this is a great way to maintain it without daily feeding.

The process is simple: once starter has doubled in size following a feeding, spread it into a thin layer on a parchment-covered baking sheet.


If you have a food dehydrator, you can use it on the lowest heat setting, but since I was too lazy to pull Hugh's dehydrator out of storage in the garage, I opted to let the starter dry out in my oven with the light on and the door cracked open.


It took about thirty-six hours, and I broke it into pieces for storage in an airtight container. You could also grind the pieces in a blender and store it that way.


Now, I have Doughlores left to bake with, and my plan is to start a couple of loaves next weekend when I have enough time on my hands. In the meantime, I will continue to feed and discard, using some of the discard for a cheddar drop biscuit recipe I found online and have wanted to try.



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