How to Re-hydrate a Dried Sourdough Starter

Recently I have received several questions about re-hydrating a dried starter and I realized that I don't have this information on my sourdough starter page. 

If you get a starter through the mail from a group such as Carl's Friends, it will arrive looking like a small bit of powder. What now?

Some directions require you to add potato flakes. Personally I wanted a purist starter with only water and flour so this is the method I successfully used.

How to Re-hydrate a Dried Sourdough Starter

In a small container, mix one tablespoon of lukewarm water and 1/2 teaspoon of your starter and let stand for a few minutes to soften the starter granules. Then mix in one tablespoon of flour 

Depending on the type of flour (whole wheat or white), you may need to add an additional teaspoon or two of water. You want the mixture to be like a thin pancake batter.  

When the mixture gets bubbly (maybe a few hours or a day), stir in 1/4 cup of water and 1/4 cup of flour. 

When this mixture rises and is bubbly, add 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of flour.  

When this bubbles up, you will have about one cup of active starter that is ready for use. Now you can go crazy baking with sourdough!

Go to the sourdough page for lots more sourdough information and recipes.