How to Share Sourdough Starter – 5 Methods

Learning how to share sourdough starter with others brings so much joy! Whether you enjoy sharing recipes, baked goods or your own sourdough starter from scratch, it has never been easier to share sourdough. 

It is true what they say, sourdough is gaining popularity (and for a good reason)! People get hooked from their very first bubbly starter, homemade loaf of sourdough bread, and by the amazing videos and pictures on Pinterest of baked goods made without instant yeast. 

For our family, we began developing a variety of long fermented sourdough recipes due to my gluten intolerance. After eating gluten free for almost 15 years, my gut had healed enough to add back in gluten. 

Thanks to the power of the fermentation process (and lactic acid bacteria), I am able to eat anything containing wheat flour! And without gut pain or bloating, may I add. We love sourdough recipes which have fermented for a longer period of time, making them easy on the gut. 

To share the joy, especially around the holidays, here are five simple ways to share sourdough with your family and friends. Gifting sourdough starter has never been easier!

1. Share active sourdough starter

Whether you have a sourdough starter made from scratch, received some discard from a friend, or purchased dried sourdough starter and revived it, you can easily share it with others. By giving a gift of sourdough, one can create loaves of bread and other recipes with their discarded sourdough starter. 

Not only does this help someone to avoid the 7+ day waiting period when beginning a starter from scratch, it also ensures baked goods will turn out well from the beginning. 

Thanks to sharing a mature, bubbly and active starter made of wild yeast, your family and friends will be ready to bake recipes from day one (no commercial yeast required!). By sharing mature sourdough starter, this also helps reduce waste as they will not have to throw away sourdough discard into the trash during the initial week when making a new starter from scratch.

• How much starter to give when sharing? 

The amount of starter you share with family and friends is your choice. I like the ratio of 1-1-1 and find this is the easiest way to share sourdough starter with another.

First, get a clean jar. Then, provide equal parts of flour, mature starter, and water (IE making more new sourdough starter for them to take home). This could be one ounce of each (a low maintenance starter) or 5 ounces of each (a huge starter – ready to discard into their first loaf of sourdough bread!).

Ratio wise, this break down to 28 grams of flour, 28 grams of water and 28 grams of starter to create a 3 ounce healthy sourdough starter. This 1:1:1 ratio is the best way to prevent too much flour or too much water in a feeding.

My favorite way to share sourdough starter is to put sourdough discard into a glass jar. I then feed it and provide additional fresh flour (whole wheat flour, bread flour or all purpose flour).

I like to provide step-by-step instructions or a video tutorial link on how to feed a sourdough starter. And as an added bonus, I love to provide a link to our favorite sourdough recipes. 

2. How to share dried sourdough starter and frozen sourdough starter

If you have already completed long term preservation methods with your sourdough starter, you can easily share these. After all, if you are buying a Ballerina Farms sourdough starter or something similar on the internet, it is dried starter and shipped to your home. 

By drying your sourdough starter or freezing your sourdough starter, you can easily share it with someone. It helps them so they do not need to maintain it right away. They can begin their sourdough journey whenever they please. 

That is, as long as they keep their dried sourdough starter dried or their frozen sourdough starter frozen. Plus it is simple to check if the sourdough starter is ready by using the float test. Simply obtain a new jar with lukewarm water.

Next, place a bit of sourdough starter in it after it has been fed. If it floats, it is a good sourdough starter. And that means it is ready to use in a loaf of bread (or other sourdough recipe).

3. Double a Sourdough Recipe 

If you need to convince someone to try sourdough, make a recipe which is less noticeably sour like these sourdough cinnamon rolls or these sourdough bagels. One bite will have someone asking “how is this made from sourdough?”? And then the next question will be “Can I have the recipe?”.

It always surprises people when they taste one of my sourdough desserts like these sourdough smores bars. They have no idea they are long fermented. Or how you can make homemade bagels without instant yeast. 

4. Share Your Favorite Sourdough Recipes

If someone is already on the sourdough train, what better way to share sourdough than with your favorite recipes? 

I always find inspiration in the kitchen when trying a new technique to knead sourdough bread or make a kid friendly sourdough recipe. We tried a sourdough carrot cake recipe from Farmhouse on Boone for my dad’s birthday this past year and it was an absolute hit. 

5. Hook Them Up with a Sourdough Starter Kit

Recently on the blog we dove into a sourdough starter kit. This has the basics to get someone started in the kitchen and kick start their sourdough journey. It is a cost affordable way to provide a gift that will keep on giving! 

Wondering what the top item we will be giving this year to help our friends begin their sourdough journey? Check out our sourdough starter kit to learn more. 

Like the Bible says in Acts 2:42-46, every day they met together, shared bread, ate together and were glad. This is what our family keeps at the forefront of our mind when making recipes and sharing them with others.

What is your favorite way to share sourdough with family and friends? We are known to double a batch of sourdough baked goods (especially since I recipe test a lot!). Let us know in the comments below.