The witchcraft of sourdough baking

I am not brand new to bread-baking but I know I still have a lot to learn: it’s a matter of love, patience, dedication….. and also a lot of fun I must say!

As I recently literally fell in love with sourdough baking, I am now so happy and proud because on May 18th, 2020 I have been able to give birth to my first sourdough starter. I had some troubleshooting but I didn’t give up and now she is growing stronger and stronger every day.

Allow me to introduce Lola

I am so grateful to Chef Sylvia Fountaine (Instagram @feastingathome) for her help in making my own starter, and for being such a kind and patient guide, supporting and giving advice during every step of the process of making a sourdough starter.
Thanks to her I could finally get my own one. So much life going on in that magic pot!
And now I really cannot leave this path, finding myself more and more committed. Every recipe is a challenge for me, and I love experimenting with new versions of the same recipe, trying new kinds of flours and different hydration levels.

One of the secrets of the high activity of my starter is to refresh it with whole grain rye flour. I started with 100% rye flour, which caused it to be too stiff and difficult to maintain, so I’ve varied the amount trying different percentages, but I have recently settled on 50% whole grain rye mixed with 50% bread flour. To me it’s the perfect formula, but obviously, everybody has his own.

It’s all about a balancing act between time, temperature and ingredients: that’s the art of baking.

– Peter Reinhart –

It really is a matter of patience, of knowing that if in the end, you want to taste a good product, you must learn to wait….. to wait and get to know your starter, its timing, its sourness, its life cycle, and its cues, being aware of the whole baking process, which in the end is so rewarding.
Bulk fermentation, folds, bench rest, preshape, shape, and final fermentation: a whole genesis that starts from your magic pot, and like every important process needs TIME. 

Isn’t it one of the biggest problems we struggle with nowadays? The lack of time. So here it’s simply a matter of learning how to practice patience.
Of course, you don’t have to be there the whole time of the process but you must wait. Wait and observe. That’s “slow life” too! And I simply love it.

The truth is that the whole process of sourdough baking is dangerously addicting because you can become literally obsessed by it, so that the moment you take your batch out of the oven, you are already thinking about the next thing you would like to bake.
In the end, it gives you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. And that feels good, believe me. People around you, who will share your creations, will enjoy it too.

Check on Sylvia Fountaine, Feasting at home how to make your own sourdough starter.

Here you can find some bubbly content to get an idea about how sourdough works on a dough. Enjoy!