Spread some on plastic or parchment paper or something. It will dry up and then you can store it. It's kind of the way that they save commercial yeast in the packages - remember that almost all of the yeast cells in the package are dead. I don't remember the exact difference between the rapid rise that came out about 50 years ago and the newer instant rise - if I'm not mistaken one of the main differences is that the newer one has more live yeast cells. As some cells die they entomb a live cell, so you have these little balls of dead cells surrounding a live one and consequently you have a greater proportion of viable cells when you start. The labeling isn't consistent, which is a pain. The vendor can call it whatever he wants But the earlier yeast, whatever it's called, is dried at higher temperatures. That kills more of the exterior yeast cells. The newer one, instant or rapid or whatever, is dried at lower temperatures so more cells survive. So you can do the same. However, at some point that yeast will no longer be viable either - all yeast has an expiration date eventually. Anyhow, good luck with that phase!

Ginny, I am very familiar with Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough culture. Mine has been going strong for 3-4 years now. Usually the starter is fed with equal measures of flour and filtered or bottled water. If you continue to feed it every 12 hours, you will end up with way more starter than you need. Following is from the information sheet that I provide when I share either of my starters: The starter will need feeding about every couple of weeks; just add 1 cup warm water and 1 cup flour. When you want to bake bread, take the starter out of the fridge and bring it up to room temperature (this will take 1-2 hours). Then, feed the starter with 1 cup flour and 1 cup warm water and let it sit in a warm place overnight to ferment. The next morning, remove the amount you need for baking. Pour the remaining starter into a clean jar and refrigerate. Wash the previous jar very well. I have only fed my starter with water and flour, no milk, no potato flakes or potato water and only used sugar and the potato flakes at the very first to activate the dried starter. Beat some air into the starter with the spoon or fork as you feed it. If you find yourself with only a small amount of starter left, you will need to build the starter  i.e. donÂt dump a whole cup of flour and water into 2 TB of starter! To build your starter amount: add 1-2 TB of flour and water into a small amount of remaining starter, let sit to work; then add about 1/4cup flour and water, stir well, let sit to work; next feed, add another 1/4cup flour and water, stir well, let sit to work. Let the starter work for a minimum of 2 hours each time after you feed it. Now you have built up additional starter so you can feed with 1 cup each flour and water, let sit to work, use to make bread, or store in fridge. Store the starter in glass or crockery. I mix the bread in my Kitchen Aid stainless mixer and let it rise in the stainless bowl or in a crockery bowl. There is a lot of speculation about the sourness of bread. One idea is every once in awhile use dark rye flour to feed the starter or some in the bread dough. Another is to let it rise at a lower temperature (60?) so it rises longer and gives the bacteria a longer time to do their work. Some feel that making the starter more firm (adding more flour than water when feeding it) results in a more sour taste. DonÂt expect your starter to ever taste as sour as commercial sourdough bread  they add things to it to get that really sour taste. The starter will develop "hooch"  a mixture of alcohol and water  while being stored in the refrigerator. If there is more than one-inch of hooch, I pour most of that off, let the starter come to room temp, feed it, let it expand 4 hours, then use it to make bread or put back in the refrigerator. Any sourdough recipe you may try assumes that the starter has been fed and left to rise, then you begin the recipe. Hope this helps, Teresa

Ginny, you will find all kinds of different advice. Here is how I use my starter. When I take it out of the fridge to feed it, I take 2 ounces of the discarded starter (60g) and mix it with 225g of flour and 225g of water. Stir well cover and leave to double. Once it is doubled, I add it to 1000g of flour , 680 to 750g of water, and 26/27g of salt. So based on when you want to make your bread. I would make the preferment now. It should have doubled in about eight hours. Then you can make your dough and put it in the fridge for an overnight longer fermentation. Bake tomorrow. Take the dough out of the fridge about 3 hours prior to shaping. It needs to come to room temperature and start to rise again. Then you can shape and proof and bake. If this is the first time you are using your starter, you might want to add a pinch of yeast just for insurance. Or just take your chances. ~Ann Here is a link that might be useful: Sourdough Bread This post was edited by ann_t on Fri, Nov 14, 14 at 16:51

I'm coming into this late and sleepy, so please forgive me if I misread something. If you have an underfed starter, it will smell boozy and may have gray liquid on top. That's alcohol, and part of die off. It's harmless. Grannies used to drink it for a short of free booze. You can stir it back in or pour it off., but definitely feed your starter more often. Once it's well established it can go a long time in the fridge, but if it even smells boozy rather than sweet, keep it out and feed it twice a day until the booziness goes away to keep it strong and the yeast healthy. If you have water on top, or starchy water, rather than booze, which is almost unheard of but could happen, you just have more hydration than the flour can absorb. You can hydrate less or use a more absorbent flour, or compensate with a little less water in your loaf. I don't like the slurry texture at 100% hydration, though I never got loose water from it. I keep my whole wheat starter at 80% and my white starter at 70%. Re the original question, what Gardengal said is standard practice. So too is making a pre-ferment with the starter and some of the flour and water from the recipe. That's after feeding the starter. What that does for you is allow the yeast to multiply without tackling the whole of a loaf of bread. It strengthens the final rise as well. BUT, you can use your starter right out of the fridge if you really want to, and skip the pre-ferment. The starter won't be active until it warms up, and the amount of flour around it could shock it a bit, but it will eventually rise if you leave it alone in a warmish place. It might take a few days, but it will rise. Baking with sourdough starter is not fast, especially if you;'re not baking daily from a warm active starter. Patience, and letting the dough rise in its own time, is key.