Drying Starter

As you can see, I have been drying alot of sourdough starter for future use/back-up/giveaway. Right now I am storing it as chips, but when I have time, I will powder.

I tried using a mini food chopper but that didn't work. I'll be using my spice grinder, although I might also give the blender a try. Once powedered, I'll only need one of the orange containers for storage. Then, I'll start drying more of my discarded starter. I hate to waste it!

If you're interested in drying starter, one of my earlier blog posts provides necessary directions. It's so easy, and doesn't take alot of your time.

Drying Sourdough Starter

I have so much extra starter, like 3 quart jars full. When I have to remove some starter from my crock at "feeding time", I hate to throw it away, so I would just put it in jars and stick it in the fridge. I would then use it as back up in case something went wrong with my crock, use for giveaways, etc. However, not many people that I know bake bread, so it builds quickly. And the jars are taking up space.

As a result, I have begun to dry the starter, a jar at a time. It is easy to do. (Pictures below, in order of steps.)

I place parchment paper on a platter or cookie sheet. I then spread a thin layer of starter on it, set in an out of the way place (where no dust is flying and little kitty paws can't disturb), and just let it air dry. (Oven or dehydration heat can affect the yeast.) When THROUGHLY dry,  I then peel off the paper (which you can reuse) and  break into small pieces. You can store in pieces or grind into a powder, which will be what I will do next. Store in dry, airtight jar.

Note that I always make sure that the starter is active before I dry it. So the jar that I am drying the contents of, is kept out of the fridge, and fed once a day (sometimes every other day) until I have dried it all. 

It's Alive! (Yay....)

In cleaning out the fridge, I found my sourdough starter. It has been in there for almost a year, but except for a bit of gray on the top (perfectly normal with all that sitting and no feeding), once that was removed all of the dormant starter was perfectly colored. So, I decided to see if it could be resurrected.

I took a few dollops out of the jar with a clean spoon, returned the rest to the fridge and placed the dollops in the crock that I had normally kept going starter in. I fed it twice a day for the last few days (1/2 c flour then 5/8 c water). As you can see , it is coming along beautifully.  I'm planning on some good sourdough rolls soon!

Let's Make Croutons!

Don't throw away the bread that is going stale. Use it for bread crumbs or CROUTONS! Great for salads, and much better than the ones that come in a box, homemade croutons are great in salads, as snacks, in soups...where ever a good crouton is warranted. They're simple to make, and you can make them to taste.

Here is a picture log of the last batch I made, just a few days ago.

 Start with simple ingredients. Cubed bread...slightly stale, olive oil, unsalted butter and a mix of herbs and seasonings of your choice. I used oregano, basil, salt and thyme.

I first melted the butter in the olive oil. How much you will use of each will depend on how much bread you have. I had about 1/2 of a small loaf of bread cubed and I ended up using about 1T+ olive oil and 3 pats of butter. When melted, add all seasonings and give a quick stir. I used anywhere from a 1/2t to 1T of seasonings. Again you will adjust amounts and seasonings used to taste. Then stir in the bread cubes and continue to stir until coated. Continue to stir so that bread browns, but does not burn. At this point, it is not too late to add additional seasoning, so it is important to taste your work!

 When croutons are seasoned and browned to acceptability, remove from pan on to a surface where they can cool  and dry a bit further. Blot any extra oil. When cool and further dried, store in zip bag or other container. As these croutons will not be dried out like commercial types are, these should be stored in a cool place, or even refrigerated. You may also spread out on a cookie sheet and put in low oven to remove further moisture.

ENJOY!