“Wakey, wakey!” — The Doctor

“Regenerate me!” — Chameleon Circuit

Ready to bring your dried sourdough starter back to life? It’s easy! 

I’ve been thinking a lot about regeneration lately. Sure, partly because there’s a new Doctor on Doctor Who — a woman this time, and she’s brilliant. Time Lords are the only humanoids that I know of that can regenerate, and they’re fictional. But did you know that some parts of the human body can regenerate? The liver is the only organ that can, but individual nerve fibers often can, too. This is on my mind because I ruptured a disc some weeks ago, which knocked out some major nerves to my leg. It’s why I haven’t been writing much the last month — I’m recovering from surgery. The leg still isn’t working quite right, although that’s a damn sight better than the not-working-at-all that it was before the operation. Nerve fiber regeneration is a slow process, from one to five millimeters (less than a quarter of an inch) a day. If the nerves have to regrow, it could be a year or more. Lucky for me, it seems many of the nerve fibers were still viable and didn’t have to regrow, so I’m recovering faster than I dared hope. Isn’t the human body marvelous?

Technically, bringing dried sourdough starter back to life isn’t regeneration. Reawakening is more accurate since the yeast was only dormant, not dead — kind of like my nerves. It’s faster than nerve regeneration and far easier than physical therapy. More fun, too! Plus you get to eat yummy bread when you’re done, which is the best part.

Ingredients:

30 g (1 oz.) dried sourdough starter

60 ml (2 oz.) warm water

30 g (1 oz.) all-purpose (plain) flour

Preparation:

1.) Transfer the dried starter to a pint (or larger) jar. 

2.) Stir in the water, breaking up the larger starter chunks so that the water covers all of the starter. Come back every now and then to stir again, until the dried starter is thoroughly dissolved, about 2 to 3 hours.

3.) Once everything is dissolved, stir in the flour. Cover the jar loosely and place in a warm spot. I like to put it in a cold oven with just the light turned on. It stays nice and warm, so the yeast wakes up more quickly than when I leave it on the counter. 

4.) It took mine about a day and a half to get bubbly in the oven. It will take longer on the countertop. Once the starter is active, feed it with 30 g (1 oz.) each flour and water. 

5.) Wait for it to get bubbly again, then repeat Step 4. After this, you can put your starter back on its regular feeding schedule.