This is a post I did several years ago but it’s so important if you love sourdough bread to be able to save the starter without having to keep feeding it.
Once you get an active starter that you really like, and they all have different flavors, if you’re anything like me, you worry a bit about something happening to it. I know that I can stick mine in the fridge for several weeks and leave it alone and then with a bit of TLC, get it back to the state where I use it every day or so.
I keep a jar in the fridge and usually toss it after a few weeks and put fresh in there. That’s just my backup starter. The one I am mostly working from sits on the counter and gets fed every day or every other day. Some instructions will tell you that a starter sitting out has to be fed twice a day. So far, I have not and mine is fine.
Another thing I do that makes me feel pretty secure, is that I keep some of my starter, dried, and in the freezer. Here’s how to go about drying some of your starter.
Simply smear a bit of it on plastic. It can be plastic wrap or something that’s plastic and easy to manipulate so that the dried starter can be peeled off. I use my King Arthur pastry sheet.
Smeared Sourdough
If smeared thinly, within a few hours, it’s completely dry and will pop off on it’s own.
Dried Starter
At this point, it resembles a thin potato chip. I place them in a zipper bag.
Dried Starter
Using my hands, I crush the dried starter.
Crushed Starter
It can be crushed as fine or as coarse as you’d like. Next time I get the Food Saver out, I’ll place this zipper bag into a vacuum seal bag and seal it. In the meantime (and after it’s vacuum sealed), it will be stored in the freezer. It will keep at least a couple of years in the freezer but at least once a year, I go through this process again and make sure I have a good sample in the freezer.
We also want to be sure we label these bags. I’d hate for someone to go digging through my freezer and find some unknown white powder in a zipper bag! 🙁
Current update: Just a few weeks go, since I had tossed out all my starter many months ago, I grabbed some dried sourdough from the freezer and rehydrated it. I simply put the dried flakes into a bowl with a bit of warm water and flour and stirred it. Every day, I would stir it again, then add equal parts of the “starter” to fresh water/flour. Example: 10 grams of starter, 10 grams of water, 10 grams of flour .. it could be 5 grams of each or 20 grams of each.
Once I got that starter going nicely, I smeared more of it onto waxed paper, let it dry and it had already separated from the paper.
Sourdough Dried
I crumbled it and into a freezer bag it went.
Sourdough Dried
There it will stay til I need it again.
It’s like a sourdough safety net!
danielle nabozny says
Have been thinking of doing sourdough again – it has been years. Was gonna ask your opinion of counter vs refrig since I know I would not remember to feed it twice a day……and look, you read my mind! Was wondering about woosing out and buying the starter already started from King Arthur…..
Jim Jorgensen says
My starter is now a little over two years old. When I’m not using it I keep in the refrigerator and feed the starter every two to three weeks. When I feed the starter I pull it out wait for to get active and then I’ll feed it with 4oz. unbleached AP flour and 4 ounces of bottled water. You can either make something with your starter oncs it is active or throw away a cup of it when you feed you starter. I try and maintain a half of mason jar of starter at all times.
dezertsuz says
I had no clue I could do that. Thanks!
Debbie Clarke says
Thanks. I am just starting my starter back up. Love the thought I can freeze this way.
Ernie Beggs says
Great info…thanks
Jim Jorgensen says
I love this freezing your sourdough starter idea. I’m going to take some of my starter and do this. I also forward this info to my sister and brother who have been using my starter for a little over a year now.