Saving Sourdough Starter Long-Term

Let's say you've got a good sourdough starter going, but circumstances arise where you won't be able to use it for quite a while. It has to be fed regularly, or it will die. Or let's say you want to send some to someone, and shipping a container of working starter isn't really an option.

The solution is to dry your starter. 

This started as a "Will this work?" experiment, and it does. I spread some starter out on a plate and left it on the table. A couple of times a day I'd stir it around as it dried, and after a few days I had a lot of little chunks of dried starter. I put some in a baggie, squeezed out most of the air, and left it on the table for several months.

To determine if the starter was still alive, I put some of those bits into a bowl, added half a cup of unbleached flour, stirred in enough warm water to make a very soft dough, put on a loose-fitting lid, and set it out of the way. By the second day it was bubbling, showing that the yeasts had come out of hibernation and were growing, and it worked normally for baking. Success!

The next method I tried was easier. I spread out some of the starter on a sheet of no-stick aluminum foil, then set that in a safe place while it dried. By spreading it thin it can dry faster, and when dry you can flex the foil and it will flake off, giving thin, light pieces that can be crushed up easily or stored as-is.

At this time I haven't tried vacuum-packing it, which is next to on my list of things to try, but it should work nicely.