Today I dried a bunch of starter to store in freezer just incase something happens to mine. It got me thinking of this question.
I dry my starter I have had for 3 months. If I lose my starter I have two options
1, Make a new wild starter
2, Use the dried chips I made today
I was reading it takes at least 4 to 5 days to get your dried starter ready to bake with as soon as you get the amount you need. I also know what it takes to make a starter to use and the older it gets the better it gets.
My question is why would I dry starter, what edge is it really giving me? Is it worth the effort? Will it really save me time in the long run?
Thanks
If you like this one, then you have insurance. If you don’t, then making a new one or reviving this one would be up to you.
Still, reviving would be faster than starting a new one and it would be mature to boot.
Thank you, So your saying the dried starter will make the reconstituted starter mature as soon as you have enough to use?
before you dried it. One tip when reviving it is to use de chlorinated water. I used tap water once and it didn’t work but filtered or bottled water worked just fine.
Thanks for the tip. I use filtered water all the time so I will be good to go.
For some reason my starter decided to die last week in the fridge. Luck enough I had the chips and in two feeds the "new" start was ready to go again
Great, then I didn't waste my time... Looks like this is the way to go.
Thank you
The length of time required to restore dried starter depend on the length of time of storage and the conditions of storage.
If you restore dry starter shortly after freezing,the time is just the time that it takes to build up a usable amount, typically 24 hours and you are good to go.
Frozen dry starter slowly loses its strength over time. The last time I checked my year 2000 start was dead as a door nail. However the year 2014 revived in two days. Current year start revived in 24 hours.
You can extend the viable life of frozen start by storing in a freezer that in not an automatic defrost type. Also use a glass or hard plastic container with an air tight lid and fill the container as full as possible to exclude air. I sometimes top off the container with AP flour to fill up the container.
Regards.
Charles
Thanks for the tip.
I have a medium mason jar with an air tight lid that will fit the bill. Good idea filling in the empty gaps with flour.