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Gifting Sourdough Starter

Cathfm's picture
Cathfm

Gifting Sourdough Starter

Hello

I am going to an English friends wedding in a month and would like to give her some of my (still 3 months young, but hey) starter as a little part of our present. I'm sure I can follow directions online re how to dry it and send it etc, does anyone have any recommendations about a brief, simple but helpful book I can give her along with it? She does have a busy lifestyle so ideally something best suited for a lady in full-time work but who still enjoys little projects on the side.

Any ideas would be great, including how much to give her, any better suggestions than shoving it into an envelope/ziplock, would a small mason jar look odd (like I'm giving her an almost emptyish jar hehe)?

Thanks

One caveat- the mail/online ordering in this country is slow, slow, and there are very, very few English bookshops here so preferably something I don't have to go on a crusade for.

clazar123's picture
clazar123

If she is a busy lady, then something short and sweet may be appreciated. Print instructions for maintaining the culture and then perhaps a recipe for sourdough pancakes (very easy), a sweet or tea bread like a banana bread using the starter and a simple bread like a 1-2-3 sourdough bread.

There are 2 good ways to dry a starter. Both require the starter to be very active before drying. So take a tablespoon of starter and do 2-3 feeds.

First method:

Now take half and start adding flour until it is very dry. Rub it between the hands and break it into smaller and smaller pieces until it is as fine as you can make it. Spread it out in a very thin layer to dry completely or it will be moldy by the time it arrives.

Second method:

Take a baking pan or cookie sheet and line it with a single layer pf parchment paper. Take the other half of the active starter and, using the back of a spoon or a flat spatula, smear the starter very thinly on the parchment paper. Now allow to dry at room temp. (NOT in the oven as you will kill the yeast!). When it is completely dry, break it up into large flakes and place in a plastic bag.

When she wants to revive, both of these just need to have a little water and flour added to make a thick pancake batter consistency and allow to sit a few hours to get bubbly. When it is good and bubbly, then start feeding.

Cathfm's picture
Cathfm

And for directions on the drying method, I appreciate it. Do I really start with one tbsp of starter only? I usually feed it 4oz each water and flour, would you recommend I do that once or twice a day for the 2-3 feeds?

Self-published is fantastic actually, I think I will use the King Arthur Flour page on reactivating dried starter.

And some nice lunch buns or something.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman
clazar123's picture
clazar123

A tablespoon or so of starter is all you need to dry. A little smears a long way!

Floyd's book would be excellent! Remember to include a link to The Fresh Loaf.

As for feeding the starter, I am not very precise. I keep mine at about 125% hydration or like a thick but still pourable pancake batter.

So take about 1 tablespoon flour, 1-2 tbsp. water (to get the correct consistency) and then add 1 tbsp. starter. Let this sit until it is very active and bubbly. If it rises and falls,great. Then it was pretty active in the first place so go ahead, discard half and repeat the process.Do that 1 or 2 more times until it is very active and at about the peak of the last rise, start the drying process.

If it was very sluggish after you added the first flour, then just stir every so often and don't feed until it shows definite activity. If it doesn't show much activity for 6-8 hours and it has been stirred during that tie, then don't discard(you want to save as many yeasts as possible)-just add more flour and water. It will wake up and become much more active at this point. Then start the discard/feed for 2-3 times.

The idea is to increase the population of yeast by providing food(not discarding and adding flour) and exposing to food (stirring). Once the population is increased then you discard to get rid of the byproducts and the lactos and provide new food so the yeast population can increase and take over. Optimum temp-about 80-82F for yeasts.

 

debsch's picture
debsch

What about a dough ball instead of dried? I took a dough ball of sourdough starter with me in my hand luggage from Australia to the UK a few months ago. I also *posted* a flattened dough ball of starter to the UK as a back-up in case the one from my hand luggage was confiscated by customs. It arrived a few days after I did but it didn't suffer from the long journey.

As for a gift or a book, I'm doing something more simple for some friends, a simple recipe on a tea towel, that they can use to cover the fermenting/rising dough and use again to wrap the baked bread in. It's on spoonflower if you want a look at it. Just get in touch for the link.