Dehydrated sourdough starter
 

A couple of weeks ago friends of ours who live on a sailboat regretted that they could not get my wife's sourdough starter that is about 25 years old. Sending it liquid was a non-starter. So, the last time my wife made bread, she gave me about a cup to test if I could dehydrate it then reconstitute it. I dehydrated it and the first attempt to revive it failed. So, after a little online research, the second effort was a success.

I was about to toss it when I figured I might as well make some bread with it. I'd made no-knead bread for fun in the past and it didn't have much flavor so why not try it with sourdough starter. I did and it came out much more flavorful but also much larger. I should have cut it in half.

The starter and the bread:

Makes sense. When you buy yeast it comes in dehydrated powder packets.

PSM, I want a hunk of your not dried, 25 year starter. One of my VC Chef friends, pinch a piece of a 100yr+ starter from a very famous Boulanger in Paris, Fr.

"not dried" or dried? Not sure how I can send liquid starter to you. I can send you some dehydrated if you'd like.

I tried for years to duplicate my moms sourdough bread. Never could get it right. It had a lot of sourness to it that I could not duplicate. I finally gave up.

We had a lady that would bring us a loaf once a year and I asked her for some but unfortunately I think she moved away and I never saw her again.

PM me an addy and I'll send you some of my wife's that I dehydrated. I can't judge the sourness since it's what we eat, but it is from the process that Nancy Silverton used for her bread at the La Brea Bakery in L.A. It's free, what do you have to lose?

Thanks PSM. I'd love to try it. Sending address in PM.

By what means did you successfully bring it back to the wet starter state?

I'll send instructions. It's pretty much like all dehydrated stuff. Twice the water, warm (I used 105°) to the amount of starter. But, you don't stop there. You have to keep feeding it flour every so often to increase the quantity. You want to make so much that you have to discard some as you grow it. You can use the "discard" to dry and save. It sounds more complicated than it is.

Thanks! I got the knack of feeding them when I was trying to duplicate moms starter. Gave up when I couldn't get any that had that perfect sourness hers had. Tried several starters to include San Franciso, Oregon Trail and a few others. Had great success with the starters themself.

You know, I thought of something this morning that I haven't tried. Mom always used our well water to make her starter. Since I closed our well quite a few years ago I didn't have that to use. I've been meaning to put down a well and I'm wondering if the minerals in the water had something to do with how tangy the bread was. I mean I've tried distilled water and various types of bottled water but not well water with all the natural minerals in it.

We do use untreated well water which is high in alkalinity. My wife suggested that you might just set your starter out on the counter and feed it for a week to build up the yeast and give that a try. Just discard the excess (or dehydrate it for storage). You can also buy alkaline water now so you might try that, too.

Address sent
 

PSM, Thank you for the kindness!

Pretty sure one or two of my neighbors still have a well so I think I'll try that first. If that doesn't work I'll try the alkaline water for sure. I really need to put the well on my priority list. Never have linked the county water we are on. Many times it's cloudy, especially when they are working on the lines.

Water source is very important to bread making. One of the few qualities that NYC has over the rest of this region is bread quality. The city water is sourced in the Catskills, the water quality is fantastic, resulting in great bread.