Time is the element that keeps many people from a healthier lifestyle. It takes time to create nutritious home-cooked meals. When starting my sourdough adventures, I was fascinated with the process of catching wild yeast from the very air around us. After several baking experiences, I began investigating other fermentation processes which replaced my sourdough regimen. Remember time! It’s a limited quantity.
However, I had discovered a way of keeping sourdough starter to prepare instantly, just like mashed potatoes. The sourdough starter could be reconstituted with filtered water and be ready to begin a new batch of the wonderful crusty goodness of fresh homemade sourdough bread.
All that is required is the instant sourdough starter,plus filtered non-chlorinated water, and the flour of your choice. The secret for me to preserve the living sourdough culture was found in my Excelsior dehydrator. I learned that you can dehydrate sourdough starter and keep it in a jar until you are ready to reconstitute the culture and begin the bread-making process once more. The starter will be there when you return from a vacation, conference or any other extended stay that you take.
The process is simple and only requires left-over sourdough starter. I used the remaining starter from my bread-making and spread it thinly on a dehydrator sheet. I set the dehydrator temperature for 105 degrees and the timer for 4 hours. Any higher temperature will kill the active yeast in the culture. The timer keeps watch and allows you the freedom to attend to the other details of the day.
After the dehydrator shut off, I checked to see that the starter was completely dry. The thinner and more evenly you spread the starter the more consistent the dehydration will be. If the starter is still damp, set the timer for another hour and continue to process the starter in the dehydrator until completely dry. When dehydrated, the starter will break into chips that you can store in a glass jar until needed.
When you want to reconstitute the starter, simply measure 1/3 cup of chipped starter into a glass jar and add 4 Tablespoons of non-chlorinated water. After the chips dissolve, feed the starter with 2 Tablespoons of flour and an equal amount of filtered water.
For instructions on how to make sourdough bread from scratch, refer to my previous blog post Catching the Wild Yeast and Other Game. It has the instructions for capturing wild yeast, the process of creating a sourdough culture, and a recipe for sourdough bread. Happy, healthy wishes to you on your sourdough safari.
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