Drying sourdough starter

[SMOKE FREAK]

OK not that Im ready to start drying and sharing my starter...Hell I aint even baked a loaf of bread yet...

How do you you dry it out so that it stays alive and ready to start again?
Just curious...

[Bassman]

Craig, the only reason I dry some of the starter, is if I'm going to send it away. If I didn't want to mess with the feeding and care of mine, I'd freeze it. Then you can activate it later with no ill effects. If you're just starting out with your starter, it's best to keep using and replenishing for awhile to get to that "sour" stage.

[moselle]

I was reading about drying starter. I guess back in the day, before freezers or plastic bags. If someone wanted to dry their starter to share or save incase their starter died. They would dip a wooden spoon into the active starter and let it dry on the wooden spoon.
When they wanted to start it up they mixed flour and water and stirred with the spoon until the dried starter incorperated with the flour and water.

I thought hat was cool.

[Gunslinger]

Craig, if you want to dry it, spread a thin coat on a plastic dish, some plastic wrap, or etc. and just leave it to dry on it's own. Don't dehydrate it, as heat will cause the yeast to want to eat, and it will die. Once dried, you can crumble it up, or put it in a coffee grinder or something similar and make granules, which is what I do.

[Bassman]

Craig, sorry I got off on something else and didn't answer your question. At least Tom took care of it. I'm just senile I guess.

[SMOKE FREAK]

Thanks guys. I dont plan on doing this anytime soon. I was just curious...