Like so many people, I have taken advantage of this time homebound to work on a much desired project. Making Sourdough Bread. In all honesty I feel a little gypped. I have been dying to get down to this for the longest time, so I feels like I am joining all the other flour-heads just because. Ach, whatever- here we are- and it all begins with the Sourdough Starter.
As many of you know I had a long career as a cake baker, which I can do blindfolded. I have never been trained in bread baking, though I have done quite a bit in my day. My post on No Knead Bread is one of my most popular posts (7 years later!). I have also created some great breads, even making a poolish to get some amazing flavor. There have been crackers, pitas, matzohs, and pizza doughs. However, sourdough has always eluded me, until now. Largely this is because I have begun a couple of starters over the years that were complete failures. It was rather upsetting, but rather than getting dismayed, I just figured it wasn’t my time.
So here we are. I am going to walk you through my experience of all this and try and share some insights and pitfalls that might help you. As I said, I am not an expert, just a crazy driven experimenter that likes to share. Those of you with any additional wisdom to share, please do so! I mean come on, we are all weirdly connected by this beast, the wild yeast, so let’s do this together.