Congratulations! You have successfully rehydrated your starter. Below are the instructions to keep your starter alive and thriving. 

 

A few random things about your starter and tips for caring for it!

 

Sourdough starters are live and active organisms, so they need regular feedings to be kept alive.

 

• I don’t bake as often as I would like, so I tend to keep my starter on the smaller side unless it is a baking day. I do this because the more starter you have, the more food you need to feed it. You can also keep your starter in the fridge if you don’t plan on baking or are going away for a trip. Cold temperatures slow down the yeast and bacteria active, naturally extending how long your starter can go between feedings. I wouldn’t recommend continuous refrigeration, but it is excellent for short-term breaks.

• Depending on how long your starter has been refrigerated, it may require an additional feed or two at room temperature before it is strong enough for baking again.

• After feeding a mature starter, it will grow 3-4 times in volume within a 24hour period during the right growing conditions. – this can very if your starter is too cold, the ideal temperature for a starter is anywhere between 70- and 80-degrees Fahrenheit, then it will begin to fall back down. It’s best to bake with your starter when it has reached peak activity, or it has just slightly fallen.

• If you are an active baker, you will start finding yourself having an abundance of sourdough discard. You only need 30 grams of starter before each feeding. The great news is you have options when it comes to what to do with your discard. From feeding it to your chickens to the butt loads of recipe options, it will never go to waste. If you do choose to throw it away, DO NOT put it down your sink, it practically turns into cement.

• I like to feed my starter a 1:1:1 ratio most of the time. This means for every gram of starter, I feed it equal parts water and flour. When I am coming up on a baking day, I won’t discard any starter. If you forget to do this and you wish to bake the next day, do a 1:3:3 feeding. For example, if you have 5 grams of starter you will feed it 15 grams of water and 15 grams of flour. Note: you can only do this with a well-established starter. For a young starter, this can be overwhelming.

• When feeding your starter, and even baking, you want to make sure to use unbleached flour and if you are on city water, make sure to use filtered water, the chemicals found in bleached flour and city water can kill the bacteria in your sourdough starter.