How to Activate Dried Sourdough Starter
Adapted from the incredible Kensington Market Sourdough, these instructions will get you on your way to making your very own sourdough at home!
Materials
- Water (preferably chlorine-free or filtered spring water)
- Organic all-purpose flour
- Hawkridge Homestead dried sourdough starter (1 package has enough to start 2 batches of starter
Tools
- A clean glass or ceramic jar that fits around 1 litre (I recommend something beautiful because it will now live on your kitchen counter forever! I use a 1L Weck Tulip Jar)
- A wooden stirring utensil (I use a chopstick)
- Parchment paper or cling wrap to cover
- Elastic band that fits around the jar
Instructions
7 Days to Sourdough!
DAY 1: Break up your Hawkridge dried sourdough starter into small pieces (going over the bag it came in with a rolling pin does the trick!). Add about half the contents to a glass or ceramic bowl. Reserve the other half of the package to start a batch for a friend or as a backup in case of emergency or catastrophic failure. Using your wooden stirring utensil, mix ½ cup lukewarm water with the dried starter in the bowl for 3-5 minutes. Your starter should soften and begin to dissolve a little. Add a heaping ½ cup of flour and mix to combine. You want a thick paste-like consistency, so add more flour or water until you achieve this. Cover the bowl with cling wrap or parchment secured with an elastic band, and store it in a warm part of your kitchen.
DAY 2: Stir vigorously, re-cover the bowl, and return it to its cosy spot.
DAY 3: Some bubbles may start to appear, and it might start to smell sour! Celebrate! Reward your starter with ½ cup flour and only as much lukewarm water as you need to get back to that thick consistency (up to ½ cup). Cover and back to the cosy spot.
DAY 4: Feed your new pet ½ cup of flour and up to ½ cup of water again. Return it to its new cosy home.
DAY 5: Thank your starter for all its hard work and dump half of it into the compost. Brutal, but necessary! Replenish the remaining half with 1 cup of flour and up to 1 cup of water to return to your thick paste consistency, and return to its warm happy place.
DAY 6: By now, you've read every single sourdough recipe and you're chomping at the bit. But, young jedi, master starter is not yet willing to teach you. Earn respect you must by feeding it ½ cup of flour and up to ½ cup of water, and stir. This is meditation practice now.
DAY 7: Discard half, feed again (½ cup of flour and up to ½ cup of water), wait, and you win the prize. Your starter should likely be fully active! How will you know? Bubbles! And when you discard and feed it, it should double in size over the next 6-8 hours.
Notes
The Lingo
Discard: use or compost a little more than half your starter, leaving around half a cup remaining. Roughly, the amount you remove should be equal to what you're adding back in when you feed it. Obviously, you'll be using this discard with every loaf of bread you make, but there are lots of other ways to use it as well. Check our our blog for our fav sourdough discard recipes.
Feed: give your starter ½ cup of flour and up to ½ cup of water and stir. Add more flour/water as needed to reach that thick, but hydrated, past e-like consistency. Your starter wants a ratio of 1:1:1 of starter:flour:water.
Maintaining your Starter
If you bake a lot: Keep it on the counter, covered with parchment. Discard and feed it daily, around the same time every day.
If you bake less often: Keep it in the fridge, covered with parchment. 1-2 days before you want to use it, bring it out to the counter or that warm cosy spot, discard and feed until you get it active again (bubbles, doubling within 8 hours).
