Your question to the Bread Bakers Digest made me smile. I once sent some
starter to a friend; I put the container of what I thought was fairly
inactive starter in a ziplock plastic bag, wrapped the bag with several
layers of newspapers, and mailed it. When it arrived at its destination 600
miles away, there was starter all over the box. I then did the drying
technique you describe and mailed it. The receiver reconstituted it with
water and flour. It took a few days to wake up and start bubbling, but it
lived for as long as the receiver remained alive. I doubt if it will work
if you mix the dried starter with other ingredients for a "bread mix". You
could mix the other ingredients and include a separate container of the
dried starter. It will need to be reconstituted, fed with flour, and become
active before it is used. I keep dried starter and regular starter in my
freezer, just in case I have to start over sometime.
Ellen Lee
>Subject: Re: Sourdough Mix
>Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 09:09:09 EST
>
>This is strictly my first thought and it is untried. I have heard <never
>done it> that you can put some of your sour dough starter out on piece of
>saran wrap on the counter and let it dry. Could you do this then mix it
>in with the flour, salt etc and just give her the instructions for the liquid?