How to Revive a Sourdough Starter

Have you ever left your sourdough starter in the back of your refrigerator for months and wondered if it's salvageable? Yes! You can usually revive a neglected sourdough starter with these helpful tips.

A woman holding an old jar of sourdough starter.

The sourdough starter that I have right now is over seven years old. Normally the age of your food isn't something we brag about, but with sourdough starter, that's OK!

A couple of years ago, I left my starter in the fridge for close to six months because I just needed a break. It was in the back of the fridge and we were super busy. I wasn't baking, it was in the summertime and then fall came and I was working on my new book.

Finally, in the fall, I decided, “I've got some time, and I want to bake some bread, so I pulled out my sourdough starter from way in the back of the fridge (you know, where things go to die) and it had a very, very dark layer on it, which is the alcohol that occurs when the culture is running out of food.

And then it had this grayish-black sludge layer. I truly thought it was dead, and I might have cried a little. I was so mad at myself that I had this thing for almost seven years that I just neglected and ruined it.

Well, I decided to do a science experiment. I decided to take off everything from the top, get a brand new clean vessel, and see if I could revive it. Lo and behold, with just a week of regular feeding, that thing was back and was as strong as ever, if not better!

So the moral of the story is that sourdough starters are very, very resilient. But if you have neglected your sourdough starter like I just shared, you are going to be using the discard method of feeding, which I discuss in-depth in my sourdough class.

There are so many things that you can use the discard for that taste amazing! From cakes and cookies to pizza dough and tortillas.

Sourdough is so fun to work with. Let me warn you, it is addicting, but in a very, very good way. As always, my goal is to share what has worked for me and what hasn’t because I want you to have success so that you love it as much as I do.

So, if you want to learn everything you need to know on how to get started with sourdough, including making your own sourdough starter that you may very well have for years to come, then make sure you sign up for my free four-part sourdough video series!

Jar of sourdough starter with a line drawn in the middle of the jar.

Reviving Your Starter

Ingredients

¼ cup flour (30 grams)
2 Tablespoons warm water (30 grams)

Directions

Mix together ¼ cup flour and 2 Tablespoons water (or 30 grams of each for 100% hydration sourdough starter).
It's ideal to use warm water, around 65 to 70°F. If your house is on the cool side, you can increase the water temperature to 80 to 85°F.
Every 12 hours (or so), discard half your starter and feed it with the amounts listed again.