Before you start: 

Gertrude is a very particular girl; she loves unbleached flour and spring water. You can use any brand of flour as long as it is unbleached. I use King Authur. You can also use tap water if you know there is not any chlorine in it. To be safe, I always use spring water.  (You can buy a gallon from the store for a few dollars :)

Do not use an airtight jar, you can use a mason jar, but do not screw on the lid, just rest it over the top. 

Having a small food scale will make this process easier. 

This process will take 3-5 days. 

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1. Pour contents of your dehydrated sourdough package into a clean glass container. 

2. Add warm (not hot) water to the jar until the contents are covered. Use Spring Water.

3. Let the dehydrated flakes soak in the water for 1-2 hours until they become soft and dissolve. 

4. Add unbleached bread flour and mix. You are looking for a pancake batter consistency. Mark your jar with an expo marker where the top of the mixture is. 

5. After 12 hours, discard (dump out) half of the mixture. Do not pour this down the drain unless you want to make the local plumber a rich man. Sourdough is like cement when it dries. I use an empty milk jug to pour out my discard. 

6. After you discard, feed your sourdough a 50/50 ratio. Using the same amount of flour and water. You do not need to use a lot for the first few days of reviving. My general rule is if I have 20g of starter, I add 20g of flour and 20g of water.  After you feed, mark your jar. Repeat the discard and feeding every 12 hours for the first three days. 

7. Your starter should start doubling in size a few hours after feeding around days 3-5. Once it starts doubling, you are good to start baking! Make sure you have enough starter to make your bread and not run out! You can start feeding your starter larger amounts, you may want to move to a larger container at this point, giving it room to double after feeding. If you plan on baking, use a larger 50/50 ratio. If you have 100 g of start, you can feed  it 200g water and 200g flour!

Happy Baking! 

Contact me for any questions or concerns!