I had in injera once many years ago in Ethopian restaurant of course, in San Francisco. Could it really have been 45 years ago??? YIKES!!! I was immediately hooked. Soft, spongy texture the is just plain mouth (and hand) fun to eat and its own, unique flavor, partly from the ferment but also teff has quite a distinctive flavor all its own. I also love the “bread as the eating utensil” thing that is common to many cultures; more fun!
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Go to You Tube and look for Bake with Jack . Look for a vid about his “scrapings” technique for managing your starter. He has a ton of of other good info that will get you going.
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A little pricey but enough to last you and your friends for quite a while😁
I’ve frozen “Herman” (that meek mild sour dough starter that begins with commercial yeast), it worked just fine.
It stayed in the freezer for nearly a year after my first kid came along, and then it lived and worked happily for another year and a half until kid #2. Back in the freezer for a while, then out again until I started working nearly full time. I gave it away to a friend who either had more time than I did or used her time more efficiently.
As soon as the weather warms up enough that there is someplace that’s a steady 70 degrees in my house, I’m going to start a new Herman.
I’ve never made sour dough starter from scratch because I don’t trust the wild yeast and whatever else that would be floating around in my house with a cedar/ash swamp on one side, a river on the other (not to mention the assorted critters wild and domestic). Things get moldy very fast at my place and I just don’t feel confident trying to catch the ‘good’ airborne beasties.
No matter how you start your starter … as it lives and you feed it in your location … it becomes a critter of stuff from your location, i.e. it does NOT retain the characteristics of whatever you might buy or be given.
I live in NW MT woods and feel like my starter is very robust BECAUSE it has stuff from the woods, my well water (untreated, but from 225 feet down in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains), minimally processed local to me flour … plus whatever from me and my pets. Granted, it is not swamp or humid, moldy river whatever, but I’m guessing you are breathing in that same air and microbes and your starter is also 
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I made two batches of sourdough starter, spread them out on some nonstick Reynolds Wrap and allowed them to dry out at room temperature overnight. When the starter was completely dry, I pulverized it in my mini food chopper. I keep it in a sealed mason jar in the fridge. When I want to bake a single loaf of sourdough bread I reconstitute it as follows to get 100 grams of starter:
- rehydrate 1 tsp starter in 1 tbsp lukewarm water for 15 minutes,
- Stir in 1 tbsp rye flour.
- When doubled, stir down and add 2 tbsp rye flour and 2 tbsp warm water.
- Repeat step 3 - when doubled again, stir down and add 2 tbsp rye flour and 2 tbsp warm water.
- When it has doubled use immediately or refrigerate overnight in a sealed jar and use within 24 hours
I use half a recipe of Bake With Jack’s Sourdough for a beautiful boule or batard. https://youtu.be/vmb0wWKITBQ
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Jack’s sourdough is great! See below how I make his sourdough with dehydrated starter.
Exactly! I’ve seen that video and its a perfect way of keeping and using a starter. It doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, couldn’t be easier.
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I have also gone the route of mixing large quantities and then finding uses for it. This was not making much sense to me. I tried freezing and drying, having a wheat, rye, Einkorn and Durum starter all at the same time to try in different breads. Just made everything even more complicated.
Paul on this site made great sense although I use a larger quantity of starter then he only because I don’t want to wait for the bread to ferment.
I read the “Rye Baker’s” book and he had a large section on starters so I changed the way I do things based on the chemical side of what I read. He does the large batch routine like most others or those in the business making large quantities of bread.
For months now I am using only one starter, comprised of 50/50 rye & wheat home milled whole grain. This mixture is used no matter what kind of bread I am making, ok so I am not a purist. I generally have anywhere from 100 to 200g of starter at any one time and it is kept in the cooler @40F. It is fed usually once a week with 20g of flour and 20g of water, mixed and placed right away back in the cooler. The only time I stray from this is on the week I make my 2 different ryes or sourdoughs where I will need more.
I have used the starter straight out of the jar after letting the whole jar ferment properly overnight (when I need lots) and then I have at times used a small amount and made a preferment out of fresh flour. All works.
This bread I made yesterday was made with 60g of starter removed from the jar and sat out to ripen overnight. Mixed with ingredients, left overnight in the retarder @55F, formed and back in the retarder another few hours before baking.
Bottom line you and I do not have a bakery, do not require having your starter available at all times for IMMEDIATE use, do not bake bread every day AND do not sell flour. So this method of mixing large quantities of flour and water and throwing out do not make sense.
Dennis
I dry and freeze all my starters so I have a backup in case of disaster, and so I can mail starter to those who’ve asked for some in the past.
- This get the starter very active, thin it some so it’s not so thick.
- Spread it very thin on a cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap.
- Prop more wrap over it, you don’t want it touching the starter, keeps some of the extraneous stuff in the air out.
- I put a 100W bulb over it to provide warmth, to dry it faster. Not too close, you don’t’ want to cook it.
5, When dry, may take a day or two depending on the thickness of the starter and how heavy you laid it down, Break it up small, put it in a plastic bag and freeze it. - Give some to a friend with instructions on how to revive it.
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I keep about 1.25 cups of each of my starters in the fridge. When I want to bake I toss off a bout a cup then feed with 1 C flour and 3/4 C, about 100% hydration, and let sit our overnight. Ready to bake next morning.
How long inf the fridge? Normally a month or two. Has been 6 months a couple times, fed it twice before use then to get it really back to top form.
BTW that stuff I toss makes great pancakes, waffles, cakes etc so it frequently doesn’t get tossed out really.
100% hydration will allow the yeasty beasties to grow and work quickly at normal to hot temps. But, decrease hydration, lots more four, and the bugs slow down a lot even in warm temps. No refrigeration in 1849 but the miners and trappers weren’t feeding that starter everyday. Made it into a firm lump, that some carried in their flour sack when on the move, and broke off some to make bread.
I ground my dried starter in my mini chopper, keep it in a small mason jar in refrigerator. Works beautifully.
If you are worried about “wild yeast” contmainating Herman, make your starter in closed jars. The microbes on the surface of rye or whole wheat flour are more than sufficient to get it going.