FAQ

Ingredients

• Dried starter
• Flour
• Filtered water*

Tools

• Kitchen Scale
• Two, 1 quart Glass Jars with Sealable Lids
• Wooden Spatula or Spoon

*If your tap water comes from the city water supply, consider using filtered or bottled water to avoid traces of chlorine which may potentially damage your starter.

REACTIVATING YOUR STARTER

Step 1: Put the sourdough starter into a clean 16oz (or larger) jar. Add 60 grams (¼ cup) of warm water and stir it together until the starter is completely covered and coated by the water.

Add 1-1/2 teaspoons of sugar (this time only) and 30 grams (¼ cup ) of flour. 

Stir until smooth and cover loosely with a lid or cloth. Let it rest at room temperature ideally 75-80 degrees for about 12 hours. You might not see bubbles yet, but this is normal.

(If you don't have a lid, you can use a coffee filter or paper towel secured with an elastic band)

Step 2: After 12 hours, feed the starter with 50g of warm water and 50g of flour. Mix it well to ensure you get plenty of oxygen into the starter. Cover with a lid that does not seal and leave for approx. 12 hours.

Step 3: After 12 hours, discard all but 50g of your starter: Add 50g of water and 50g of flour to your mixture. Mix it well to ensure you get plenty of oxygen into the starter. Cover with a lid that does not seal and leave for approx. 12 hours. 

Step 4: You will need to repeat step #3 every 12 hours for around 3-7 days. You want your starter to become bubbly and doubling consistently after each feed. Once it is doubling in volume consistently it is ready to be used in recipes. 

Common Issues

If your starter is bubbly but not rising after you’ve completed the 5-day rehydration instructions and fed your starter a few times, double-check the feeding instructions and make sure you are following them closely. If you are still having issues, temperature could be your problem. Starter loves warmth, around 76° Fahrenheit and if your current storage space isn’t warm, we suggest placing it in an area such as close to a fireplace, next to your oven, or in a cupboard close to a heater (not too close, we don’t want to risk cooking the mixture).

There are several ways to determine if your sourdough starter is ready to bake with. 

SIGN #1: after feeding your starter it should at least double (ideally triple) in size.

SIGN #2: your starter should have a light + airy texture and it’s fluffy and stretchy.

SIGN #3: it should have a tangy aroma. (It shouldn’t have an unpleasant smell).

You do NOT need to keep a large amount of sourdough starter on hand. Instead, you can keep a small amount (25-50g) and bulk (or build) it up when you want/need to. I usually keep about 40g of starter in my fridge at all times - that’s it! Then during bulk bake days, I increase it as much as I need to.

Here’s how to increase it (sorry a little math is required):

Let’s say you currently only have 50g of starter and you need 200g for a few loaves. Then you would add 100g of flour and 100g water to your 50g of starter. After your starter reaches peak, you will have about 250g of active starter to work with. The 200g goes toward your loaves and the remaining 50g can either go back into the fridge or stay on the counter if you’re planning to bake again soon.

100+100+50= 250

You can build up your sourdough starter from an even smaller amount! For example, if you only have 10g of starter and you still need 200g, just feed it a higher ratio. For this example you’d feed it a 1:10:10 - 10g starter, 100g flour, 100g water. At peak, your starter would be about 210g.

100+100+10= 210

You can feed your sourdough starter any ratio that you want! Just keep in mind that with a higher ratio, your starter will take much longer to peak and be ready for baking.

When rehydrating a dehydrated starter, use unbleached bread flour (preferably with 12%+ protein, like King Arthur Bread Flour) instead of bleached or all-purpose flour, as chlorine in bleached flour can harm the cultures.

Water choice matters too. Avoid tap (often chlorinated), distilled, and reverse osmosis water, as they lack the minerals needed for your starter to thrive. Filtered spring water is ideal for supporting active, healthy starter cultures. If you notice low activity by Day 3, check your water and flour quality to ensure the cultures are thriving.

If you're planning to bake with your starter daily, keep it in a mason jar with a locking lid on the counter, removing the seal to let gases escape. Feed it daily, and if you don’t use it for a recipe, discard everything but about 25% of the starter after 12 hours, making room for the next day's feeding. This discard can be saved in the fridge for recipes or kept as a backup starter.

If you bake only once a week or less, store your starter in the fridge in a sealed glass jar to prevent mold. When ready to bake, take it out the day before and feed it 2-3 times over 36 hours to ensure it’s strong and active.

The type of water matters: Tap water with chlorine or distilled water can harm the starter cultures. Use filtered spring water, which has the minerals needed to help your starter thrive.

I stored my sourdough discard in a sealed jar in the fridge for about six months, and it developed a layer of dark liquid called "hooch." This liquid is lactic acid bacteria and adds a sour flavor to the starter. If you want to avoid an overly sour starter, pour off most of the hooch before feeding. But if you’d like a tangier flavor, keep some of the hooch, stir it in, and feed as usual. It may take about four or more feedings to revive the starter since it’s been dormant for so long. For a quicker refresh, I like to feed it every 12 hours for 48-72 hours until it’s active and bubbly again.

Discarding simply means removing extra starter from your jar when you don’t have enough room to feed it and let it double without overflowing. If you have a large enough jar and want to "bulk up" your starter, you can skip discarding and keep feeding it. Discarding is mainly to manage space, so do it only as needed.

YES! Discard is simply just inactive starter. So when you feed it a couple times out of the fridge, it will become a nice bubbly active starter again.

I wouldn’t use discard that’s been in the fridge for recipes beyond 1-2 weeks. Two weeks is the limit, in my opinion. If you want to "freshen" it up, take it out, feed it once or twice, then put it back in the fridge. This way, you’ll have good discard for recipes for another week.

Sourdough discard, also known as "inactive starter," is an incredibly versatile ingredient that can add flavor and nutrients to many recipes. Since it’s packed with vitamins, minerals, and probiotics, it can enhance the taste and texture of baked goods and other dishes without requiring additional yeast.

Healthy feeding ratio is 1:1:1 starter, flour, and water to keep things happy. Also 1:2:2 to give it a boost if it has been lazy for a while.

There are plenty of opinions out there on the best container for sourdough starter, but here’s what works best for Eden: a glass jar with a locking, sealed lid. You can find these at most grocery stores, IKEA, or Amazon. I keep the lid tightly closed after each feeding—I don’t use a cloth cover or pop the lid at all. This setup lets gases build up naturally, keeps out pesky fruit flies, and reduces the chance of mold spores sneaking in.

If you're worried about pressure building up and potentially breaking the jar, simply remove the rubber seal. This way, gases can escape while still keeping the lid mostly closed. And if you ever need to store your starter in the fridge, just pop the seal back on for an airtight hold that keeps mold away and ensures freshness.

Yes, you can use an active sourdough starter instead of a leaven, but there’s a slight difference in how they work.

Active starter is the mixture of flour and water that contains wild yeast and bacteria. It’s fully fermented and bubbly, ready to be used in your dough.

Leaven, on the other hand, is typically a mixture made from your active starter, flour, and water, left to ferment for a few hours before being added to the dough. It’s essentially a “boosted” starter, designed to give the dough a stronger rise.

Key difference:

• Leaven helps with the rise and flavor by creating a more controlled fermentation.
• Active starter is usually added directly to the dough, but it might take longer for the dough to rise because it hasn’t been “pre-fermented” like a leaven.

If you're in a pinch, using an active starter instead of a leaven can work, but you might need to adjust the timing for the rise. Just ensure your starter is very active and bubbly for the best results!

Metal is fine to use with sourdough, especially stainless steel. The concern is that reactive metals like aluminum or copper can affect the flavor or fermentation. So, feel free to use metal bowls or spoons, but avoid long-term contact with reactive metals.

A cool home can make it slower to create or maintain a starter, but it’s not impossible! Sourdough thrives best at warmer temperatures (around 70°F/21°C), so in cooler environments, you may need to be more patient. To help, you can:

• Place your starter in a warmer spot (like near a heater or on top of the fridge).
• Use a proofing box or make a DIY warm spot with a heated blanket.
• Extend the feeding time since fermentation will be slower.

Yes, weather and climate can affect sourdough. In humid areas, you may need less water, while in dry climates, you might need more. Warmer temps speed up fermentation, so reduce proofing time, and cooler temps slow it down, needing longer proofing. At high altitudes, you might need more starter or adjust hydration. For your Heavenly Hydrated Sourdough, adjust water or flour based on how the dough behaves in your environment.

If your bread is dense, it could be due to under-proofing, too much flour, too little hydration, or not enough starter. Ensure your dough rises enough during both fermentation stages, use the right amount of water, and avoid over or under-mixing. Also, try using more starter for better rise.

You should pull from your starter when it’s active and bubbly, typically after it has been fed and has doubled in size. This is usually about 4-6 hours after feeding, depending on your room temperature. Make sure it’s at its peak of activity—neither too young (not bubbly enough) nor too old (over-fermented). The starter should pass the "float test"—a small spoonful of starter should float in water if it’s ready!

If your dough is too sticky, it could be from too much water, under-mixing, not enough flour, or using a flour that doesn’t absorb well. Try adding a little more flour while kneading, but don’t overdo it. Use the "stretch and fold" technique to help develop the dough.