How to Rehydrate your Bull Rise Sourdough Starter
Materials Needed:
- Dehydrated Sourdough Starter
- Unbleached all Purpose Flour – We use Montana Wheat All Purpose
- Glass Jar with lid – A wide mouth mason jar works great.
- Digital kitchen scale, a small shipping scale will also work. – Or U.S. metric measuring cups.
- Wooden spoon or spatula
Day 1 – Rehydration
1. Begin by weighing your dehydrated sourdough starter on a digital scale.
2. Place the starter in a clean, dry glass jar. (Or use a bowl to weigh and mix all contents and then transfer to the jar.)
3. Add an equal weight of unbleached all-purpose flour to the jar.
4. Gradually mix in an equal weight of lukewarm to cool water until you achieve a thick, pancake batter-like consistency. (You will most likely need more water, add in slowly.) It will have a chunky for the first 24 hours.
5. Cover the jar loosely with the lid, or you can use a paper towel and the ring to hold it in place – allowing room for gas exchange, and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
Feeding
1. After 24 hours, your starter should show signs of activity, such as bubbles and a slightly increased volume.
2. Discard half of the starter to reduce its volume. So you’re only feeding about 2oz. If it isn’t more than 2oz feed all of it and don’t discard any until you do. (Place the discard in an air tight container/jar and place in the refrigerator for discard recipes)
3. Add equal parts (by weight) of flour and water to the remaining starter, stirring until well combined. Cover the jar loosely with either the lid or a paper towel and let it sit for another 24 hours.
Subsequent Feedings
1. Repeat the feeding process every 24 hours until your starter consistently doubles in volume within that time frame.
2. Once your starter is consistently active, you can switch to a 12-hour feeding schedule for a more robust culture.
Maintaining Your Starter
1. Store your active starter in the refrigerator (with an air tight lid or it will dry out) if you’re not baking daily.
2. Feed your starter at least once a week when stored in the refrigerator by removing it, letting it come to room temperature, and following the regular feeding process.
Tips:
-When you’re ready to bake, take your starter out of the fridge let it come to room temperature and then feed it. You’ll need to feed at least 4oz to have enough to bake with and have starter leftover.
– Use a consistent flour and water ratio for feeding to maintain a stable hydration level.
– When your starter isn’t in the fridge, keep it in a warm environment (around 70-75°F or 21-24°C) for optimal fermentation.
– Rinse/clean your spatula immediately. Starter is like glue and is hard to clean once it dry’s on something.
– Be patient; it may take several feedings for your starter to reach its full potential.
* If you don’t want to use a kitchen scale. You can measure everything out 1:1:1 ratio (You will always need more water to reach a thick pancake consistency.) with regular measuring cups.
Check out a short video here.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment or send us a message on social media. We are so excited for you and your new sourdough journey