Why and How to Convert Wet Sourdough Starter to Dry Starter

A few blog posts ago, I went over how to make your very own sourdough starter! I went into all the incredible reasons as to why you should get started in sourdough. If you haven’t read that blog post yet, you can find it here!

Hopefully, you’ve had the chance to make your own starter and start playing around with it a little! Now I’m here to share with you a way to make sourdough an even easier part of your routine! Instead of a wet sourdough starter, let’s make it a dry starter!

Why have a dry sourdough starter?

There are three main reasons why to choose a dry starter over a wet one. Less flour waste, longer storage compacity, and easier maintenance!

Converting your wet starter:

• Start with 20 grams of your wet sourdough starter ( You should absolutely put your money towards buying a kitchen scale. It makes everything so much easier! )
• Add 50 grams of water, and mix your starter into it well.
• Add 100 grams of flour and mix this together.
• Unlike the pancake batter consistency of a wet starter, you should now have a much more solid dough-like texture. Take this out and work it with your hands. Rolling it on a surface and folding it a few times before putting it back into a container
• Leave out at room temperature ( around 68-75 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 12 hours. If colder it will take longer, and warmer will take less time.
• Check your starter, when converting, you may need to feed it a couple of times for it to get used to being dry. You should see nice bubbles and it should smell really good!
• Place in your fridge and you’re done!

Maintaining dry starter:

Maintaining a dry starter is actually so much easier! There’s no real-time limit as to when to re-feed your starter. Just feed it when you have only about 20 grams left, adding the 50 grams of water and 100 grams flour ratio. Then just repeat the process of giving it a good touch and letting it sit for 12 hours before back in the fridge again. How much you bake will really determine how often you repeat this process, whether it’s weekly, bi-weekly, or even monthly.

Do I need to re-feed it before every use?

No, you do not! This is a key selling factor in choosing to keep a dry starter. As opposed to a wet starter that you prep before use, with dry, you take 30 grams from your container to use in a levain. To this, we add 130 grams of warm water and 120 grams of flour. This essentially “wakes up” your starter to prepare for baking. Leave your levain out for 6-12 hours before using it in your recipe. This is what to use when referring to most sourdough recipes. If the recipe calls for 1 cup of starter, for example, make the levain, and then take your cup from that.

Can you make a dry starter without using a wet starter?

Yes! If you don’t already have a wet sourdough starter, you can jump right in on your sourdough journey with a dry starter! Here’s the recipe for starting a dry starter from scratch!

• On day one, start with 45 grams of water and 60 grams of flour. Any flour other than bleached works.
• Mix together and then take it out with your hands. Give it a good roll before placing it back into the container.
• Let this sit for 48 hours at room temperature.
• On day 3 add 30 grams of water and 60 grams of flour. Let sit for 24 hours at room temp.
• Repeat the process of day 3 again on day 4
• After the 24 hours, you’re going to take 10 grams of the starter you’ve been creating to “freshen it”.
• You are then going to add 30 grams of water and 60 grams of flour to the 10 grams you just took out
• Put into a new container and allow to sit at room temp. In about 6-10 hours you should see you have a nice bubbly, active starter. If you don’t see that change, repeat the process of day 5 the next day until you do.
• Keep in your fridge

Well, there you have it! When I found out about keeping a dry starter I knew I wanted to jump right on it! I hope you’re able to find this post useful for your sourdough journey, and I wish you the best of luck in all your baking adventures!