Gifting, Sharing and Sending a Sourdough Starter — Gartur Stitch Farm (2024)

FAQs

Gifting, Sharing and Sending a Sourdough Starter — Gartur Stitch Farm? ›

You can easily share your sourdough starter with friends and family - whether you're gifting, sharing or sending a starter, the easiest thing to do is take 20g of sourdough starter and place into a small jar and then add 20g of flour and 20g of water. You now have a small sourdough starter to gift to your friend.

You can easily share your sourdough starter with friends and family - whether you're gifting, sharing or sending a starter, the easiest thing to do is take 20g of sourdough starter and place into a small jar and then add 20g of flour and 20g of water. You now have a small sourdough starter to gift to your friend.

For most locations in the US, standard shipping is adequate. Sourdough starters are considered liquids and are perishable, but conform to the guidelines set forth by USPS. Other mail carriers, such as FedEx and UPS are fine to use, as long as expected shipment times are no longer than 5 days.

Discard a portion of the starter and feed it with fresh flour and water every 24 hours. Twice-Daily Feeding: In warmer environments or if you prefer a faster fermentation process, you can feed your starter twice a day, approximately every 12 hours. This helps maintain a more active and vigorous starter.

Grab some parchment paper, pretty baker's twine or ribbon, fresh herbs, dried oranges and these printable gift tags from thepeacefulhomestead.com. Add in jam, cinnamon sugar, honey, or flavored butters to really complete the gift and make an extra special gift that doesn't add clutter.

If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain.

You can keep a “peaked” starter in the refrigerator for about 12 hours (sometimes more), and still use it directly in your mix. You do not need to let it come up to room temperature. If your starter is well past peak (a few hours) and visibly falling, you can give it a “refresh” feeding to reactivate it.

There are two way I ship (or travel with) starter. I either make a very stiff starter mixture (100g of 50/50 starter + 100g flour) and ship it in a plastic bag placed in a mason jar with a lose lid.

Do I have to discard my sourdough starter? It would be best if you discarded some portion of your starter each time you feed it unless you want to continue to let it grow. Eventually, you need to discard the used “food” (flour and water) that's been used to sustain your starter during the last fermentation period.

What to do when a friend gives you sourdough starter? ›

Give your starter another meal: Scoop out 113g (discarding the rest), place it in a bowl, feed it with 113g each unbleached all-purpose flour and lukewarm water, keep it warm, and wait 8 hours or so for it to grow.

Have you ever wondered whether you have to clean your sourdough starter jar? The simple answer is you don't need to clean your sourdough jar. It's just not necessary to clean your jar all that regularly, unless it's super crusty or you can't get your starter out or fresh flour and water in.

I wouldn't go more than 24 hours without feeding a very young sourdough starter (it may survive longer than this unfed however you will leave it open to the risk of mold). Mature sourdough starter aged more than 6 months old should be able to survive unfed on the counter for around 3-4 days without any risk of mold.

You can either split your starter into a new jar for your friend and feed both as normal ( about 100g of starter and 100g each of water and flour) or spilt some off and give them the discard to feed up. Generally, you don't need more than about 50g of starter to pass on to really get a new starter going.

You can spread the sourdough starter out on a piece of parchment paper and dry it, or preferably freeze dry it. It should still retain some activity. Then peel the starter off of the paper and crumble it up. Place it in a ziplock baggy and mail in a padded envelope.

Tie bread with long piece of twine, like you'd do with a ribbon on a christmas gift. Put a candied orange and rosemary, or other florals into the middle of the twine where it is tied. Add accompaniments to basket, and use linens to nestle everything.

If you do need to take liquid starter in your carry on luggage, you should take between 25g and 50g. So how do you pack a sourdough starter? This is how to prepare your starter for the flight: 12 hours before you fly, place 15g of your sourdough starter into a small plastic container with 15g of flour and 15g of water.

To ready your refrigerated starter for baking: Take the starter out of the fridge, discard (or set aside) all but 1/2 cup (113g) and feed that 113g as usual with equal parts (113g each) flour and water. Cover the starter and let it rest at room temperature.