There are a few ways of getting a pre-made starter

• You’re given some liquid starter in a jar
• You’re given a chunk of stiff starter dough
• You’re given some flakes

Then, of course, you could make your own from scratch and that’s a whole ‘nuther set of instructions so we’ll leave that for the time being.

The first two methods mentioned above mean you’re going to basically just keep feeding your new starter as it had been and continue on from there so you will just need to maintain it and we’ll look at that process next. For the flake version, however, you need to rejuvenate it and get it up to speed again and from that point, you too are on to the maintenance process. But first we need to get those flakes turned into a viable, wet starter.

All those flakes are is some of an actual, lively starter that’s been spread on a surface (parchment, wax paper, silicone mat) and allowed to dry then crunched up and at that point your starter could then be delivered to you without worrying about time or conditions too much. It’s a very handy and easy way to pass on starter to people far away and it’s also a great way to keep some starter you’ve used and like as a reserve in case someone accidently dumps your starter or some other mishap. So let’s look at how to rejuvenate those little flakes

What you’ll need (basically):

• Starter flakes, about 1/2 teaspoon
• lukewarm water, about 85ºF
• Flour of your choice but usually Unbleached All Purpose
• a bowl to mix stuff in
• a whisk - small one is handy, $1 at the local Dollarama
• a spatula - I use a ’spoontula’ again $1 at Dollarama
• a small glass (juice or shotglas for example) to wet and start your flakes up in
• a clean, 2 cups+ lidded jar to keep your starter in - anything clear glass or plastic with a wide mouth you can get your spoontula into is fine. If it can hold 2 cups of water or better, excellent since you’ll make and keep about 1/2 cup of stater that will expand to about three times or better
• Kitchen Scales: VERY important, you’ll use this for a lot of your work and bread recipes. Be sure it reads in 1 gram increments. A spring one is OK if it’s accurate and has grams, a digital one is better as it lets you “tare” or zero the ingredients quickly as you add more. You can get decent digital scales for about $30-$40
• Time and patience: probably the MOST important ingredients in sourdough bread making.

Take about a half teaspoon of your flakes (a good guestimate is OK) and put them into the small glass and add one tablespoon of lukewarm water and let this sit and soften up for a few minutes then give the mix a stir and the water should get pretty milky. You don’t need to wait for all the flakes to dissolve, as long as they’ve had a chance to soften up you’re good to go.

FLAKEY TIP: You can keep the remainder of your flakes stored in the freezer for at LEAST 6 months as backup or give it away to a friend and let them start some up. You can make your own flakes at any time with active starter discard.

Now add one tablespoon of flour to your watery flake mixture and stir. You want the mixture to be like pancake batter so if you need to, add a little more water. After adding the flour, there will still be a few flake lumps in our glass, that’s fine. Let the glass sit at room temp for a few hours, loosely covered (put anything on top to keep it from drying or things falling in).

After a couple of hours, you might (or not) see a few bubbles as the yeastie beasties begin to perk up and start chowing on the flour soup. Scrape/pour/scoop this small amount of starter into a small bowl, add 60g of lukewarm water to your “soup” and whisk up a little froth, then add 60g of flour and stir. Don’t worry about the batter not being 100% smooth, the yeasties will take care of that for you. Transfer your starter batter to a wide-mouthed jar. Cover loosely and keep at room temp or (better) a Warm Spot like the top of your fridge for a few hours more.

Sometime in the next 4 to 8 hours, your starter should beging to bubble and increase in volume to about double. When this happens again, stir it down and again add 60g of water, stir and add 60g of flour. By now you’ll have about a cup; let this expand once more. Your starter is now revived and ready for regular maintenance and you’ll begin to feed your new baby about every eight hours for the next couple of days. Don’t worry, it’s very quiet and won’t wake you up at night.

From here on, you’ll be reducing your starter to 30g and feeding it 60g of water and 60g flour. Do this every 8 hours following “standard feeding” for at least three days until you’re certain your flakes are up to speed.

CLEANUP TIP: When feeding or working with sourdough starter, try to put your tools into cool water as soon as you’re done with them since dried flour/water paste is a MAJOR PAIN to get off things. It IS used as glue, after all.