Maintaining a sourdough starter, also known as a levain, involves commitment. You have to remember at the same time each day to remove a portion and add more flour and water. This routine can lead to a lot of waste unless you’re baking every day. Schedules can get in the way. Going on vacation or having a busy week often means neglecting your sourdough starter. Whether you’re off to explore new places or just swamped with work, maintaining your sourdough starter can become challenging. Missing a feeding can cause the sourdough starter to become inactive and change in composition, leading to a neglected starter that you feel is unusable.
But instead of throwing away that neglected starter, why not give it a second chance? With our Second Chance Sourdough recipe, you can transform leftover or inactive sourdough starter into delicious, flavorful bread.
This method captures that complex sourdough flavor using inactive sourdough starter, without the hassle and waste of daily feeding. The idea involves adding a small amount of commercial yeast to inert sourdough starter. The sourdough starter provides complex flavor, and the yeast makes the dough rise. Simply freeze portions of inert sourdough starter in a zip-top bag and defrost as needed (learn more freezing tips from our blog here). Then mix it into dough made with a little instant dry yeast.
This technique is also great if you want to make a big batch of sourdough starter and use it over time. Freezing active sourdough starter allows you to thaw and use portions as you would a regular sourdough starter for about 2 weeks. As storage time goes on and the thawed sourdough starter becomes less active, simply add 0.4% –0.5% commercial yeast to boost leavening power. To help protect the sourdough starter from the effects of cold, you can add a bit of glycerin before freezing. Think of this method as a way to minimize waste or as a rather spectacular form of instant sourdough flavoring. Second-chance sourdough is a way for you to enjoy the rich flavors of sourdough bread without the constant maintenance of your starter.
