Rehydrating your Superstarter™

 Simple, Confident Start to Your Sourdough Journey

Yeast Coast dried sourdough superstarter in a bowl with packaging and instructions on a blue background

If you’ve made it here, you’ve got your hands on our Yeast Coast Sourdough handcrafted dried sourdough Superstarter™. That means you're just a few days away from a bubbling, active culture ready to bake naturally leavened sourdough bread.

This guide will walk you through reviving your dried starter and baking in four easy days. Let's demystify the process together. 

Note: We’ve updated our process based on new testing. If your card differs, use the instructions on this page for the fastest results.

What you'll need:

  • A dried sourdough starter
  • A large glass jar with a loose-fitting lid or cover (I recommend the Weck 743 with the seal and clips removed)
  • A food scale 
  • A silicone spatula
  • Something to mark a jar with: a wet erase marker or rubber band

Day One: Wake-Up Call

Packet of dried sourdough starter being poured into a jar

Morning: Hydrate
Start by mixing your entire packet of Yeast Coast Sourdough Superstarter™ with 45g of warm, filtered water in a clean glass jar. The water should be around 85F, not hot.
Stir vigorously for 30 seconds. Cover the jar loosely with a lid (glass or plastic are great) or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Add 30g flour (We recommend bread flour, but unbleached all-purpose works well too). Mix until you have a smooth paste. Cover again and let it rest for approximately 12 hours.

Evening: First meal
Add 30g flour and 30g warm water, mixing until you have a smooth paste. Cover again and let it rest for approximately 12 hours.

Day Two: Feed & Build

Morning Feed
Discard all but 20g of the mixture. (Yes, discard is part of the process to keep your starter healthy. See our notes below. The discard will be reduced when you transition to the maintenance phase with your starter)
To the remaining 20g of starter, add 20g warm water and 20g flour, and stir thoroughly.
Mark the level with a rubber band or marker, cover loosely, and let it rest for about 12 hours.

    Evening Feed  
    Repeat the same feeding steps you completed this morning: 

    1. Keep 20g starter, discard the rest
    2. Add 20g water + 20g flour
    3. Mix well, mark the level, cover loosely, and rest overnight.

    You may start seeing some tiny bubbles at this stage, but you may not. Often, your starter will appear dormant for several days before springing up. Trust the process; it's working at a microbiological level behind the scenes. 

    Day Three: Strength Training

    Morning Feed:
    Continue the same routine, with a slightly larger feed:

    1. Retain 20g starter, discard the rest
    2. Add 40g warm water + 40g flour
    3. Mix well, mark the level, cover loosely, and rest 12 hours between feedings. 

    Evening Feed:

    Let's stop and assess our starter. Do you feel like it's:

    • Bubbly?
    • Doubled in size and starting to recede?
    • Tangy, yeasty aroma?

    If the answer is no, continue to repeat the day three feedings (20:40:40) until your starter doubles in size before its next feed. If your kitchen is colder, you may require an extra day or two.
    If the answer is yes, we are ready to prepare our starter to bake our first loaf!

    If you are using my Simply White Sourdough Bread recipe (recipe included with your starter kit), you will need 120g of starter. Therefore, we will make 140g total: 120g to use, and 20g to keep your starter going. 

    1. Retain 28g starter, discard the rest
    2. Add 56g water + 56g flour
    3. Mix well, mark the level, cover loosely, and rest overnight.

    If you plan to follow another recipe, follow the same process to create amount of starter listed in the recipe.

    Ready to Bake

    You've done it! After as few as three  days of steady feeding and growth, your Yeast Coast Sourdough Superstarter should now be active, bubbly, and strong. You're ready to leaven your very first loaf of sourdough bread.

    Go forth and bake your inaugural bread with confidence. Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok @yeastcoastsourdough and #YeastCoastSourdough so we can give you a round of applause on your first loaf of bread from scratch! Questions? Email us at hello@yeastcoastsourdough.com. We’ll walk you through every step of the way.

    Helpful Notes & Tips

    • What kind of flour should I use?
      Your starter will thrive on bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour.
    • Do I really need to use a food scale?
      Baking is a science more than it's an art, and sourdough is no exception. Using a food scale eliminates the error and guesswork that comes with volume measurements (cups and tablespoons).
    • Why 40g? Isn't that a lot of waste?
      We’ve tested many feeding ratios to bring this starter to life quickly and powerfully. 40g of flour and water gives the ideal boost without overwhelming the reviving culture. It’s the sweet spot for speed, strength, and simplicity. We wouldn't call it waste: it's the key to rapid success!
    • Do I need to discard?
      Yes. Regular discard helps keep your starter healthy, strong, and manageable in size. The rehydration process creates more discard than you'll be making in your day-to-day starter maintenance. Remember: “discard” doesn’t mean waste: we just aren't maintaining it. Keep a large jar in your refrigerator and save the discard for a flavor boost in your other baked goods. Check out our Discard Recipes like these easy crackers for ideas to turn it into crackers, pancakes, waffles, cookies, muffins, and more.
    • What’s next?
      Once your starter is doubling reliably, you can transition to a daily or weekly maintenance routine. See our Starter Maintenance Daily Care Guide for details.
    • Why isn't my starter doubling yet?
      Especially in colder climates, you may require an extra day or two of feeding. Keep nurturing your starter every 12 hours and checking the level. If you are still not seeing activity after six days, email us at hello@yeastcoastsourdough.com. We will be happy to troubleshoot with you.

    You’ve Got This.

    We know it feels intimidating to start, but it only takes a few days to unlock a whole new world of baking. With Yeast Coast Sourdough, you're not just feeding dough. You’re feeding a rhythm, a process, a tradition.

    And we’re with you every step of the way. Our goal is to demystify baking sourdough. Rest assured that we are just an email away at hello@yeastcoastsourdough.com if you have any questions. Because there's nothing we love more than talking bread.