How to Dry Sourdough Starter to Keep Indefinitely – Sourdough Brandon (2024)

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When I teach sourdough starter workshops, I always recommend a couple of storage options for sourdough starter maintenance based on how often one bakes.

This way, home bakers have options to maintain their sourdough starters to fit their own schedules, instead of feeding every day. These include refrigerating your starter for short-term storage and drying out your starter for long-term storage.

Learning how to dry your sourdough starter is a helpful and easy way to keep it indefinitely with no maintenance involved. Drying it is my recommendation for long-term storage, shipping, traveling, mailing, and to keep a backup starter.

This detailed guide will walk through the benefits of keeping a dried starter, how to dry a sourdough starter, how to store it, how to rehydrate it for use, and options for purchasing dried starter.

Why Dry Sourdough Starter?

There are many reasons one may want to dry their starter, but the primary reason is for long-term storage.

Sourdough starter is extremely resilient. In fact, it’s been found and revived from ancient Egyptian pottery!

When you dry out, or dehydrate, your sourdough starter, it requires no maintenance nor feedings.

Essentially, the wild yeasts and bacteria in the starter go dormant. This makes it an ideal option for those who bake rarely and want to put their starters on hold.

For shipping, traveling, or mailing, drying sourdough starter is my recommendation. That way, if the mail or your luggage gets lost or experiences wild temperature changes, it won’t starve in the process.

When flying, the pressurization in an airplane can make the lid on your starter jar or container pop off or leak. Additionally, If you need to carry more than 3.4oz (96g) of starter on the plane, you won’t be able to travel with it through TSA or most commercial flights. This makes dried starter the ideal choice for flying.

Dried sourdough starter also is a great way to share it with neighbors or friends or gift to others. Remember to include reactivation instructions and a link to your favorite recipes so they can get to baking sourdough bread.

Finally, I recommend keeping a backup starter in case it accidentally gets baked, grows mold, knocked over, or thrown away. I always keep dried sourdough starter in a jar in my pantry as an emergency backup!

How to Dry Sourdough Starter

It couldn’t be easier to dry your sourdough starter. I air-dry my starter, but you can use a dehydrator to dry it out if that’s more convenient for you.

How to Air Dry Sourdough Starter

To air dry your starter, spread the sourdough starter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

I spread 50 grams or less so I can spread it thinly. However, the amount will depend on the size of your baking sheet.

Spread the starter into a very thin layer. The thicker the layer, the longer it will take for it to dry.

Then, simply let your starter air dry for at least 12 hours and up to 48 hours. Allow it dry until it’s completely brittle and breaks apart into flakes.

The length of time depends on the humidity and temperature in your environment and how thinly you spread the starter.

If you’re concerned about gnats, fruit flies, or other pests, I recommend gently covering the baking sheet with a lid or a loose piece of plastic wrap.

How to Store Dried Sourdough Starter

Once your starter is completely dry and brittle, break it apart into small flakes. Then, store it in an airtight container like a mason jar, another glass jar with a lid, or ziplock bag at room temperature in your pantry.

Furthermore, you can grind and pulverize the dried starter into small pieces or a floury dust. Use a food processor or spice grinder and store it the same way so it takes up less space.

Don’t forget to label your jar so you don’t confuse it with a flour or spice!

How to Rehydrate and Reactivate Dried Sourdough Starter

Rehydrating dried sourdough starter is easy. However, it can take anywhere from a couple of days to a week to reactivate. This depends on the activity and freshness of the dried starter.

To rehydrate, crumble or grind the dried starter into a fine flour using a spice grinder or small food processor. The smaller crumbles or dusty will make it easier to hydrate when mixing.

Weigh about 10 grams of dried starter in a clean jar (or your preferred amount).

Then, stir in about 30 grams (¼ cup) of equal parts flour and room temperature or slightly warm water.

Stir until all of the flour is hydrated, just as you would typically feed a small sourdough starter.Use larger amounts for a larger starter if you prefer.

Sit the jar in a warm location (ideally 75-80ºF), or a warming device such as Goldie by Sourhouse, for 12-24 hours.

If the starter doubles in size, then it may already be active and ready to bake with soon!

If there is no activity after 24 hours, repeat the same feeding process above every day until it consistently doubles in size, just like making a sourdough starter from scratch.

Once your dried starter is consistently doubling in size, smells yeasty, and is full of bubbles and gases, then you can bake sourdough bread or other recipes with it!

How Long Does Dried Sourdough Starter Last?

Dried sourdough starter can last indefinitely in an airtight container at room temperature! It’s dormant starter and is very resilient.

However, freshly dried starter will be more active than starter that’s been stored for many months or years. That’s why I recommend feeding your starter and waiting for it to double in size before drying it out so it will be most active.

Can You Dry Sourdough Discard?

Sourdough discard is unfed sourdough starter that’s removed during feedings to maintain the size of your starter. It can be stored in the refrigerator to make sourdough discard recipes.

If your discard is fresh, it’s still active starter and can be dried following the same methods above.

You can dry old sourdough discard (older than two weeks), but older discard tends to be less active and quite acidic, as it’s essentially starved starter.

Older discard may take longer to reactivate and may not be as vigorous as fresher discard or active starter.

Can You Freeze Dried Sourdough Starter?

Yes, you can freeze your dried sourdough starter. However, it’s unnecessary, as it will also remain dormant indefinitely at room temperature.

How to Use a Dehydrator to Dry Sourdough Starter

In addition to air drying your starter, you can also dehydrate your starter if you own a dehydrator like the Sahara Folding Dehydrator from Brød and Taylor.

To avoid killing the yeasts at high temperatures, I recommend dehydrating the starter at a low-temperature range of 85-95ºF (29-35ºC) for 4-6 hours.

Where to Purchase Dried Sourdough Starter

If you purchase sourdough starter online, it’ll often come dried.

Some, such as King Arthur and Cultures for Health even sell live, active starter that needs to be fed immediately.

There are many options to purchase dried sourdough starter, but I personally recommend Cultures for Health as they include many options of dried starter, including gluten-free sourdough starter, whole wheat, rye, and San Francisco-style starter.

Their starter cultures include easy-to-read instructions that have worked for me in the past and created vigorous starters as seen below. They also sell other cultures, such as kombucha, water kefir, yogurt, and other cheese cultures.

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