Sourdough Chronicles

COVID 19 - when everyone was locked up and what else was there to do other than start the sourdough journey? Now, I was late to this trend and started it about 3 years later...and then accidentally letting mine die. So here I am again - essentially becoming a stay-at-home mom to nurture my sourdough starter.

Oh, you want to go out for lunch? Sorry, need to do my stretch and folds...(if you know you know)

So, who wants to come along on my journey to perfect my sourdough loaf (consistently) and not accidentally kill it this time!?

The Beginning:

After talking to some people, I realized many are scared to start, but don't let that stop you! Creating a starter is just flour and water! Personally, I go by feel, but for anyone just beginning I would recommend equal parts water and flour - then from there you just throw away half and repeat every day! Eventually you will see it to rise or double - depending on your environment you could see that happen within 10 days or could take up to 3 months! Wait until you get consecutive doublings for 2–3 days straight, and that it doubles within 3–4 hours, to ensure your starter is strong enough for the best loaf!

My mom has been doing sourdough now for years - she was probably cursing my name when I told her not just once, but twice, that I was going to try to use my starter to make a loaf....when it wasn't exactly ready. But I was impatient and wanted to see how it would turn out. The first loaf was an ABSOLUTE bust (oops, you were right mom...) and the 2nd one actually turned out OK, but on the chewier side because my starter wasn't quite strong enough. I'm sure you all would love to see pictures of both attempts, but to be honest, I was embarrassed and didn't take any pictures...even though the second loaf actually didn't look bad! I will do better on this journey to take pictures of all my fails and successes.

She’s alive!! We’re one step closer to fresh, crusty loaves! - This is my 1ish month old starter made back here on the East Coast.

Bubbles show that the starter is ALIVE and that will help your loaf rise. More bubbles= more rise. You want your consistency thick, but not super dense or runny. There will be a tangy fermented smell, which is good - your starter is doing what it needs to do.

The vessel you choose you want to make sure that it can close (you don't want air) but you also don't want it too tight. I usually just cover mine with saran wrap. Wild yeast thrives in environments with some oxygen, you don't want to starve it off oxygen. Also, if you trap it too much it could build enough pressure to break your container or pop the lid off (you DON'T want to clean up that mess)

Below are pictures of my 1-month-old starter in Arizona - WOW! Talk about active. As you can see the different environment and location dictates a lot but just be patient! (unlike me)

Let's talk about discard

This part is important because you need to have enough room in your starter container for it to grow and breathe! I know it hurts to throw half away, but trust be you'll be fine.

After a week of feeding your sourdough hopefully you see some bubbles, from there you can use the discard instead of wasting it and throwing it away. There are SO many recipes online you can find to utilize the discard. My favorite things to bake with discard are pancakes, muffins and pretzels.

Sourdough discard turned salted pretzel bites

Beyond the Loaf

Not everyone loves sourdough - truthfully, I wasn't a big fan of the taste myself, but learned I like a not very sour sourdough (also did I mention its gut healthy??) Making sourdough doesn’t have to mean that strong sour taste! Just avoid bulk fermenting overnight, but we can get into that in another post when I show you the process start to finish!

If you STILL don't want sourdough because you don't like it, but you're wanting to come along for the ride - you can make tons of stuff with your starter like cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, brioche, croissants, bagels, English muffins and so much more!

I hope you'll stick around with me on this journey so I can show you the start to finish process of my next loaf - and lets hope that it isn't a flop!

For those of you already with a starter, drop a comment and share your favorite thing to make with discard!

Can’t wait to share what’s baking next. 🥖