How to use Powdered Sourdough Starter:
So many people tell me they have problems establishing their sourdough starter in the beginning. There is no teaching patience, unfortunately. They eventually come good, but you just have to keep going at them. The sourdough starters, I mean - not the people. The people are a different story altogether.
Note: A true Sourdough Baker understands the value of time, and of course, timing.
But using a powdered (or dehydrated) sourdough starter is easier for some. A powdered sourdough starter provides instant 'character', which of course is flavour in the bread. This flavour can only be achieved using an older, more mature and established sourdough starter.
It's quite similar to wine science - the more well established the ferment is, the more complex and effective the living (rehydrated) sourdough starter will be.
So powdered sourdough starter makes better tasting bread, faster and more reliably. Smoothes out the learning curve a bit too.
You can buy my Powdered Sourdough Starter, complete with extra recipes and directions, right here at the SourdoughBaker Shop Sourdough Starter Supply section. It'll arrive in the mail in only a few days and is guaranteed to work, provided you follow the simple directions included.
So I've been playing around with a powdered version of my own sourdough starter, because to actually 'kick start' a sourdough culture with an established one can save you weeks if not months of establishment time.
My powdered sourdough starter has an enzyme rich combination of flours, which will help it to establish quickly. It contains tiny (I'm talking parts per million here - so I do mean TINY!) amounts of soy flour, ascorbic acid and amalyse (from wheat starch) to help it to ferment initially. I can post this starter powder anywhere in Australia virtually overnight.
Check out the SourdoughBaker Shop for more information about this really handy way to rapidly establish a sourdough starter that already has 20 years of culture ready to go!
You will find that you will get a workable sourdough starter in 3 days. After that, it will keep as 'old dough' in the fridge for months at a time, if stored correctly. Or, you can use it as a liquid sourdough starter, if you prefer the flexibility this method offers.
The recipe following is designed for the old dough method, in that it makes an extra 300 grams of dough to reserve as your old dough sourdough starter.
(Hint: By adding a little water to the starter you've reserved, you can easily have liquid sourdough starter for all the recipes in that section of the site.)
Once you've done this recipe, have a look at maintaining liquid sourdough starter in this site, so you begin to understand the dynamics of sourdough starter and how to keep it successfully.
Once you've followed the simple steps below to reconstitiute a powdered sourdough starter, you'll be producing sensational sourdough bread simply and relatively quickly. You only need to use the powder once, to set things in motion. From there, it's up to you (with a little help from this website)..
The following recipe works to rehydrate a powdered starter, and will probably work with varieties of powdered sourdough starter too. It builds over 3 stages to a dough, which has part reserved for the next batch. Over time I'll provide instructions on how to dehydrate your own sourdough starter at home. This is quite handy if you want to preserve your starter and share it with friends! But for now, here's the basics:
Powdered Sourdough Starter Stage 1:
You'll need:
- 150 grams powdered sourdough starter
- 150 grams white or lite organic flour
- 300 mls warm water, or unsweetened Pineapple Juice
- A plastic container which will hold a volume of 1.5 litres with a lid.
Method:
Mix the powdered sourdough starter with the flour, dry, with a fork or spoon in your plastic container.
Add the water or juice, continuing to stir the mixture through till you have a paste.
Leave in a warm place with the lid sitting lightly on top, unsealed. It needs a tiny amount of airflow.
Leave for 24 hours.
Powdered Sourdough Starter Stage 2:
You'll need:
- 300 grams of white or lite organic flour
- 300 mls warm water or unsweetened pineapple juice
Method:
Mix the paste you made yesterday with the water (or juice) and then the flour, using a fork or spoon to blend together, maintaining a paste consistency.
Leave for 24 hours. It might rise a bit and develop bubbles at this stage. There should be a slight smell of bananas, maybe a little vinegary smell there, but it is unlikely for there to be much activity at this stage. It may not be particularly active at the end of 24 hours, especially in winter. Just let it go another 24 hours if this is your gut feeling.
But you will be observing a change.
At this point, you should have a fairly active sourdough starter. It is a fairly liquid consistency, and can be simply left to ferment for another day, and then used in any of the liquid sourdough starter recipes in this site.
Or, you can continue on through the recipe following, which transforms the starter into an Old Dough Starter. This is an easy method, which does away with feeding sourdough starter altogether!
Powdered Sourdough Starter Stage 3:
You'll need:
- 1000 grams of white or lite organic flour
- 100 mls luke warm water (more if the dough feels too stiff)
Method:
Transfer the fermenting mixture to a mixing bowl or large plastic box.
Add the water and the flour, working them together with one hand.
Keep the other hand clean and use it for pouring water if required. The dough may seem very stiff at first, but work it together until most of the ingredients are combined. If you need more water, add it now.
Now you can work the dough with both hands until it is fully combined. Knead as much or as little as you like here - mainly, you want to get the ingredients to combine nicely, rather than make a smooth dough at this stage.
Leave the unsalted dough in your mixing bowl or plastic box for at least an hour.
Powdered Sourdough Starter Stage 4
You'll need:
- 24 grams sea salt
- Spray gun with water, or a clean wet cloth.
Method:
Reserve a 300 gram chunk of dough and put it in a plastic container with a loose lid, in the fridge. This will be left to ferment slowly for your next batch of sourdough bread, and can be referred to as 'old dough'.
Brush or spray your dough with water and sprinkle the salt over it. Knead the salt through the dough until you can't feel it on your palms as you knead the dough. It'll be well enough combined now.
Once you've added salt to the dough, leave it in the bowl, covered, for a few hours. Make sure the dough can't 'skin' over this period. I like to use a large (10 litre capacity) plastic box with a loose lid, which can then be used to store the dough.
This can then be placed in the fridge to allow to ripen overnight.
These boxes can be purchased right here at our new SourdoughBaker Shop, and are invaluable for all the recipes on this site. They keep things contained and tidy, and double as dough storage container and proofer. I also use them for mixing my doughs in, alleviating the need for large mixing bowls too!
The dough should rest, cool, for 12 hours. Take it out of the fridge, divide in two even weight chunks (about a kilo each, if you've measured things correctly) round them into balls, and return them to the bowl or dough box. Allow the two chunks of dough to recover and 'gas' for an hour or two. They are ready when you poke them and there is little resistance.
Final Proof:
Now place a dough ball in your two open palms, as if you are reading a book, with the seam of dough at the bottom.
Squeeze the outside of your palms together to seal each ball of dough, and in doing so, you are forming a cylinder.
Return each cylinder to the box or bowl, keeping the two cylinders separate.
Rest the cylinders as long as you dare. You'll get a lighter, more seasoned sourdough loaf by allowing the cylinders to fully 'gas'.
Spray the cylinders with water and dust with semolina flour.
Slash diagonally three or four times and place in a pre oiled bread tin or flat tray. Cover (either with the upside down box or a cloth that won't allow the loaf to crust)
Proof until the loaf is full to bursting from the tin. Warmth is very useful here - a cold dough will take a long, long time to proof.
Baking:
Bake according to my article on 'how to use an oven properly'.
As a default setting, I like to use 180 degrees celsius, and I wind the oven down by about 20 degrees when the bread goes in.
Trial and error is the best way to figure out how to set and bake at the correct temperature. There is more about this in the article linked above.
Things to Remember:
- for a thicker crust, wind the oven down (150 C or less) and bake for longer (check every 15 minutes till you have the colour you want.
- for a thinner crust, use moderate heat (160 to 180 C) for shorter periods. Again, after 30 minutes, check every 15 minutes till you have the colour you like. You may need to rotate the breads about halfway through, especially if your oven is a bit uneven in the way it heats.
- High heat (above 180 degrees celsius) is only useful when preheating the oven. Don't use it when the bread goes in - it won't help with oven kick at all. In fact quite the opposite - the crust sets more quickly in a hotter oven, so the dough simply can't 'kick'.
There are lots of sourdough recipes in this site to try, once you have an active sourdough starter. Have a look at some of them here:
Basic Sourdough Recipe
White Spelt Sourdough Recipe
Wholemeal Spelt Sourdough Recipe
Wholemeal Sourdough (Old Dough) Recipe
White Sourdough (Old Dough) Recipe
Light Rye Sourdough (Old Dough) Recipe
Medium Rye Sourdough (Old Dough) Recipe
Continental Bread (Semi Leaven) Recipe
Light Wholemeal (Semi Leaven) Recipe
Light Rye (Semi Leaven) Recipe
There are also books available to buy, if you want to flesh out your knowledge. Have a look at SourdoughBaker's online shop for great books for home sourdough bakers, Remember, if you buy a book through this site, it'll help to build this free sourdough bread resource - I'll keep adding more recipes, especially if you buy through this site!
Until then,
Happy Sourdough Baking!
For more information about Sourdough Starters, follow the links below by title:
You can find direct links to any of the sourdough recipes in this site by following your favourite looking recipe below:
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