I decided to get back into baking with sourdough starter now that I'm retired and have more time. So I sent away for a dried starter, which I am still waiting for.
Last night I looked into the fridge, looked down at the vegetable crisper and realized there was something in there. I pulled out 2 containers in a plastic bag with dried sourdough starter. The date on them is 1/27/16 and 1/29/16.
So, I'm going to give it a try and see if the little beasties can be revived. Even after 4 years.
Let us know how they grow! I'm placing my bet on them just working.
Best of luck, hope they help getting your starter established.
Benny
I will give an update. My mistake, they have been 6 years in the fridge.
Well, after little over two weeks of hemming and hawing I finally got around to starting my starter again. When I opened up the one container, I found that it had a very nice yeasty smell to the dried starter. I figured that that must be a good omen. That they would make a very nice sourdough starter. So we will see this is only day one.
Update. My 6 year old dried starter is nice, bubbly and active. I'm looking forward to making many loaves of bread with it, and savoring the taste that I have so missed.
Nice work. What was your process to re-hydrate the dried starter? I have a dried rye starter in a cotton sock in my pantry since 11th April 2021 as an emergency backup.
I took 1/2 Tablespoon of dried starter, added 1 1/2 Tablespoons filtered water. Let sit for 30 minutes to soften. Then added 1 Tablespoon unbleached flour. Stir. Let it sit for 24 hours.
Day 2 1 Tablespoon flour, 2 tsp water let sit 24 hours
Day 3 same as day 2
Day 4 same as day 2
Day 5. 1/3 cup flour 1/4 cup of water