Activate Your Sourdough Starter

Follow these simple steps to bring your dried sourdough starter back to life.

Rehydration & Care Instructions:

Day One – Morning

In a clean glass jar, add:

10 g dried starter (that’s the full packet you purchased)
15 g lukewarm water

Stir well to dissolve. Let it soak for 20–30 minutes (up to an hour) until mostly dissolved.
Then add 10 g unbleached bread or all-purpose flour, stir again, cover loosely with a towel, and keep at room temperature (around 72–78°F).

Let it rest for 24 hours.

Day Two – Morning

To your jar, add:

10 g lukewarm water
15 g bread or all-purpose flour

Mix until it’s about the texture of a thick pancake batter. Mark the level on your jar with a rubber band or dry erase marker, cover loosely, and rest at room temperature for another 24 hours.

Day Three – Morning

Add:

10 g lukewarm water
15 g bread or all-purpose flour

Mix again, it’ll feel very thick at first but will loosen over time. Cover loosely and rest another 24 hours at room temperature.

Day Four – Morning

You may find this hard to do but it’s time to start discard.
Keep 25 g starter and discard the excess. To the 25g starter your kept, feed it with:

25 g lukewarm water
25 g bread or all-purpose flour

Mix well, cover, and rest for 12 hours.

Day Four – Evening

Check for activity. Do you have any rise or bubbles?
If it’s not showing much rise or activity yet, skip this feed and wait 12 more hours.
If it’s starting to bubble and grow, feed again:

Discard and keep 10 g starter.
To the 10g starter add 20 g water and 20 g bread or all-purpose flour.
Cover and rest another 12 hours.

Day Five & Beyond

Keep 5 g starter and feed at a 1:3:3 ratio (5 g starter : 15 g flour : 15 g water) twice daily.

Within 3–5 days, you should see steady bubbles, a pleasantly tangy smell, and at least doubling after each feed. Once it doubles consistently, it’s ready to bake!

💡 Tip from My Bakery

Maintaining Your Starter

Once your starter is active:

I prefer to keep my starter at room temperature, not refrigerated.
I like to use all-purpose flour or bread flour for maintenance. Make sure your flour is unbleached.
I maintain no more than a half-pint jar during the week and bulk it up only when baking.
Even a small, healthy starter can build up to thousands of grams when you need it for a big bake day.