Gluten Free Starter Upon Receiving

PLEASE feed your starter immediately upon receiving it. At first look, it will not necessarily be bubbling or look 'alive.' Not to worry, starters never really ever 'die'. Please note: Sourdough starter is a living entity; it needs regular feeding.

Day 1: In a larger jar/bowl/container mix together with the entire starter you receive with 2 oz water (4 tbsp.) and 2 oz flour (7 tbsp.). You can use any gluten free flour as long as it does not have xantham gum as an ingredient, but brown rice flour works best. Use only bottled, spring, or filtered purified water. Keep it at room temperature until it gets its strength back, as it goes into a ‘hibernation’ state during transit . Day 2 and each day after: Mix together equal weight of each flour and water as you have starter on that day. Keep the 1:1:1 ratio by weight for feeding. For every 1 part of starter, you feed it 1 part flour and 1 part water. As your starter’s weight increases, the feeding amount increases. Each day this is how you will 'feed the starter’ and should be done every 24 hours. Then starter’s temperature upon receiving will not affect it.

Sometimes the starter bounces back to full health after 1 feeding and sometimes takes 6 days. Cover with a towel at first and once active switch to a solid lid on loose. Once your starter bubbles consistently after being fed, you can now officially use it! When baking, start a recipe once your starter is roughly at its peak size, about 3-6 hours after feeding. Leaving an active starter on the counter, it will need to be fed equal weighted parts water and flour every 12-24 hours. The weight of your starter you have when feeding that day, is the weight you feed of both flour and water. If you are not using the active starter regularly, you can store it in the refrigerator and feed it once every 3 days.

If it gets a layer of liquid on top, or smells ‘bad’ that simply means it is hungry. If the consistency ever gets thicker than grainy pancake batter you can add more water. If you are having trouble getting the starter to wake up after a few days, you can try to feed it a triple amount once, this should do the trick. Once active or after 3 days of feeding, you can discard any amount of the starter before feeding to keep it at a manageable amount. Continue to feed the remaining amount with the 1:1:1 ratio.

Feeding and continual care of your starter begins on day one, and can take up to 6 days of feeding to become active again. During transit the living culture eats the physical flour, so actual amount received will vary slightly, but will have no effect on your chance of success. I do guarantee success and satisfaction so please contact me with any issues before leaving feedback or reviews. Feel free to contact me with any questions Joe@LivingDough.com

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