bread, Sourdough Starter - May 28, 2023

Reactivate your starter

HOW TO REACTIVATE YOUR STARTER

You will need:

– Sourdough Starter

– Unbleached bread flour

– Glass jar that has a lid

– Digital kitchen scale

– Fork, spatula and/or spoon

IMPORTANT NOTES:

In the US, bakers refer to “starter” whereas European bakers say “leaven.” The terms are interchangeable in that leaven or starter is defined as a well-fed starter that is ready to be added to dough to begin the fermentation process.

The reactivation is a two step process with a “wet feed” and a “dry feed.”

A wet feed means we will be using slightly more water. The extra hydration helps increase the activity for the yeast and bacteria and move more quickly throughout the mixture.

The dry feed, or using slightly more flour than water, allows all the microbes to feed and multiply quickly. Using this two step process, we can reactivate and revive this starter …

The starter will need a warm place to rest to be able to stretch, feed and grow. A kitchen around 70-75 is great. I recommend finding a spot that has natural indirect sunlight preferably in the kitchen.

Use purified water or water that is chlorine-free, or as an easy to remember rule of thumb use your drinking water. Using chlorine-free water will slow down the microbial activity and can kill the yeast and bacteria.

I like to use wex glass jars because they have a glass lid. I have several wex jars and I use a new one for each feeding, but you can use one glass jar and wash it between feedings too. Mason jars also work well, just don't screw the lid down, rather, let the lid rest on top.

Discarded starter can be saved in a separate glass jar and stored in the refrigerator. You can mix together discarded starters from other feedings/days, just be sure to stir them together when adding a new discard to your discard jar. Also, keep in mind that discard is only good for a few days in the fridge. If you don’t end up using it, I recommend adding it to your compost or feeding it to chickens (if you have egg layers/meat birds) or pigs. Whatever you do, do not throw it down the drain. If I decide to throw my discard out, I line a bowl with a paper towel, scrape the discard into the bowl and then lift the paper towel from the bowl and throw it in the trash. You want to make sure that you are scraping all of the starter off of your glass jars and utensils and not putting any of it down your drains. Diluting it in water before going down the drain isn’t a good option either. Starter is very gooey and everything likes to stick to it, this will increase your chances of creating a clogged pipe.

To get the starter from dehydrated to an active starter that is ready to use in a dough will take roughly 72 hours (3 days). I recommend starting around 5-8am depending on your day's schedule. This way, you can feed your starter with your morning and evening routines as you will need to tend to your starter 2 times a day for the first 3 days.

After each feeding, you should mark your jar at the top of the starter. This is to measure how much your starter is growing in size. Ideally, you want your starter to double and triple in size before you bake with it. The best way to mark your jar is with a sharpie or a rubber band. I like to use a sharpie. I also write on the top of the glass lid how many grams of stater, water and flour I mixed as well as the time (if you’re using a mason jar or other glass jar that does not have a glass lid, you can write this info on the side of the jar near the top). This is a good habit because as you learn more about sourdough, you might decide on occasion to do a 50/50 feeding of rye/unbleached bread flour or you might do a 1:2:2 ratio and it's always good to write down your feedings so you can remember what you mixed.

You will be tending to your starter every 8-12 hours. It is ok if you are slightly outside of that range. This is rather a guide to help you stay close to that range. Sometimes we get home late, have a lot of errands or simply forget to feed an hour or so past the 8-12hr window. That is perfectly fine if you’re slightly outside this window, just don’t go too far past it because your starter could develop mold. Mold on starters are orange, pink or hairy. If you follow these instructions, you won’t have any problems with mold.

DAY 1-

Morning:

Wet Feed – mix 10g (grams) of your dehydrated stater into 60g of water. You can mix this in your glass jar or in a separate mixing bowl and then pour it into your glass jar. I prefer to mix in a glass pyrex measuring cup that has a handle and pouring spout. Then, I pour my mixture into my glass jar.
Mark your glass jar with a sharpie or rubber band and list your mixing on the lid/notepad
Let the mixture rest for 8-12 hours.

Evening:

Pour out your mixture into a mixing bowl
Mix in 40g of unbleached bread flour into the water/starter mix.
Pour you new mix back into your clean glass jar
Mark your jar with a sharpie or rubber band and list your mixing on the lid/notepad
Let the mix rest for 8-12 hours.

When looking at the side of your jar, you should begin to see some tiny bubbles forming. The starter will not expand or grow as much at this point, but you should see some activity happening. It’s ok if your starter isn’t growing above your marked line at this point. Right now, we are simply waking up the dehydrated starter.

Day 2 –

Morning:

Pour out your mixture into a mixing bowl
Dry feed without discarding any starter - add 40g of water and 60g of flour to the mixture and stir until well combined.
Pour you new mix back into your clean glass jar
Mark your jar with a sharpie or rubber band and list your mixing on the lid/notepad
Let the mix rest for 8-12 hours for the fermentation process

Evening:

After 8-12 hours, the starter should have doubled in size and have a milky-yogurt smell. We are now going to move to a 1:1:1 feeding ratio which is how you will regularly feed your starter.
Pour out 60g of stater into a mixing bowl.
Discard remaining starter (or save the discard to use in a sourdough discard recipe)
Add 60g of water and stir together until well combined. **It is much easier to mix your feedings if you combine the water and starter together first.
Once water & starter is combined, add 60g of unbleached bread flour and stir together until well combined.
Pour the combined mixture back into your clean glass jar
Mark your jar with a sharpie or rubber band and list your mixing on the lid/notepad
Let the mix ferment for 8-12 hours (the starter should triple or quadruple in size).

Day 3 –

Morning:

Pour out 60g of stater into a mixing bowl.
Discard remaining starter (or save the discard to use in a sourdough discard recipe)
Add 60g of water and stir together the water and starter until well combined.
Add 60g of unbleached bread flour and stir together until well combined.
Pour the combined mixture back into your clean glass jar
Mark your jar with a sharpie or rubber band and list your mixing on the lid/notepad
Allow this to ferment for 4 to 6 hours.

Evening:

Your starter should have really grown and at least doubled, tripled or quadrupled in size.

Time to start your dough!

Click here for my sourdough recipe

Weight the remaining starter that you didn’t use in the recipe, whatever that weight is, match that weight with your flour and water to continue your starter for your next baking day. This is called a 1:1:1 ratio. (The first 1 is your starter, the second one is your flour and the third 1 is your water ratio).

*Pro tip- no matter what your starter weight is, always make sure your water and flour ratios are equal to each other. For instance, you might have 43 grams or 19 grams of remaining starter as long as you mix greater and equal parts water and flour your starter will remain healthy. If you accidentally added slightly too much water when mixing, just add an equal amount of flour and everything will be fine.

You may want to increase your ration to 1:2:2 or 1:3:3 when making double batches or when you want to leave your starter for longer periods of time between feeds. Occasionally, I will do a 1:3:3 ratio when I know I am going to be gone the majority of the day and I still want to start a loaf in the evening. The higher ratio will allow your starter to feed longer, thus, taking longer for it to reach its peak or need another feeding.

*Pro tip– when mixing your starter, add your starter and water together first. Thoroughly combine the starter and water before adding flour. This will help to prevent a clumpy mixture and provide a more seamless and smooth integration of ingredients. It’s also good to let your starter sit in the water for a few minutes especially if you are warming the water in the colder months. This helps activate or recharge the wild yeasts and bacteria.

You can also make a second starter with the discard. Simply repeat these steps with the discard and you’ll have an additional starter for extra baking or gift it to someone

An active and healthy starter should triple or even quadruple in height within 4 to 8 hours of being fed. Use your starter right when the height plateaus for optimal results but you can use it as soon as 2 hours after feeding as long as it has doubled in size. Also, you can use it throughout its plateau, but be mindful that it will eventually collapse. If it does collapse, it is hungry and you will need to repeat the process from the beginning of day 3: keeping 60g, feeding 60g of unbleached bread flour and 60g room temperature water.

Happy baking to all! Be sure to share your creations with us and the rest of our community of sourdough bakers using #GusTheStarter

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