Activation Instructions for Dry Sourdough Starter

Congratulations on starting your wonderful journey into sourdough baking.

The best way to start and maintain your sourdough starter is to measure starter, flour, and water by weight, rather than volume. I would recommend buying a scale that can accurately measure grams. I’ve included both volume and weight in the instructions.

 

 

Note: Do not use distilled, reverse osmosis, ozonated, or alkaline water. I prefer using Natural spring water. It can be found at almost any grocery store and is relatively inexpensive. 

Note: Do not use bleached or enriched flours. They contain chemicals that can slow down or kill off the wild yeast cultures. Any unbleached flour will work but I prefer using King Arthur unbleached all purpose or bread flour. 

Directions for 14 grams sourdough Starter pack

Day 1

1. Grab a clean 16oz jar with a non airtight lid
2 . Add 28 grams ( 2 tbs) luke warm filtered water to the jar. Pour 1 bag (14 grams) of the starter and stir to partially dissolve the starter in the water. Let it rest for about 20 minutes to help the starter dissolve.
3. Add 14 grams (2 tbs ) unbleached all purpose + 3 grams (1/2 tbs) whole wheat flour ( whole wheat will speed up the process but it is not necessary)( I prefer King Arthur ). You can use any unbleached all purpose flour.
4. Stir all the contents together thoroughly.
5. Place a non airtight lid on the jar and let it sit at room temp ( 70- 74 degrees Fahrenheit)

DAY 2

If your starter is already doubling at this point skip to day 4. If not then continue following instructions below.
* Without discarding any of what is in the jar, stir in 10 g ( 1 heaping TBS ) of flour and 10 g (2 TSP) of filtered water.

DAY 3
If your starter is already doubling at this point skip to day 4. If not then continue following instructions below.
You may begin to see signs of activity at this point such as small bubbles and a slightly sour aroma. 
* Without discarding any of what is in the jar, stir in 10 g ( 1 heaping TBS ) of flour and 10 g (2 TSP) of filtered water.

DAY 4
You should see clear signs of activity at this point. The starter will have risen since the last feeding and you will see bubbles.  

* Discard all but 25 g (1 TBS) of the starter.
* To the 25 g (1 TBS) of starter add 50g (3.5 TBS) of water and 50 g (6.5 TBS) of flour.

DAY 5
Your starter should be very active at this point. It will have doubled in size, be very bubbly, and smell sweet with just a hint of sourness. By Day 5 or less your starter will be very active. The time it takes to peak will have shortened from the previous days.

IN THE AM
* Discard all but 25 g ( 1 TBS) of the starter.
* To the 25 g (1 TBS ) of starter, add 60g ( 4 TBS) of filtered Luke warm water and 60g (8 TBS ) of flour.

IN THE PM
* Check your starter around the 7-hour mark. If it has close to tripled in size, then repeat the same feeding as you did in the AM. If it has not yet peaked, let it go another hour or two before checking again.
* At this point, your starter should be active enough to bake with.

DAY 6
The starter should be fully active at this point.

Now you can proceed to the maintenance schedule.

Discard all but 40 grams of the starter than add 100 grams flour and 100 grams water. Stir until it’s smooth and the consistency of peanut butter. Then wait for it to double or triple and repeat.

Only discard and re feed after it has at least doubled. Waiting for it to at least double is the most important part. You will be doing this once a day if you’re leaving it at room temperature.

I would give it a few more days of doing this until you bake. That way the starter is performing optimally.

After about a week of maintaining at room temp you can go ahead and move it to the fridge. But wait until it is discarded and fed and then doubled at room temperature before doing this. Once in the fridge you can feed it once a week. What I usually do is pull 40 grams from the starter in the fridge and place it into a new jar. I then add 100 grams flour and 100 grams water. Stir and let sit at room temp until doubled. Then place back into fridge. I clean the old jar and put it away until the following week. :)

If you are baking sourdough more than once a week I would recommend keeping it on the counter. If you bake only once a week or less than I recommend putting your starter in the fridge and feeding it once per week.