Oh my heavens. Your words are speaking to my SOUL. Not just because I’ve been super curious about finding some sourdough starter (my curiosity is coming from a place of wanting to connect with my late mom, but I’m totally jiving with your motivations, too!), but also because I’m starting some things over and yes. It feels much more like a continuation than a starting from scratch.
Gosh. Thank you so much for this reflection. I’ll be thinking of it for days to come, I’m sure.
I love the idea of starter as a way to connect with your mom. As I miss more and more people (the collateral damage of growing older, I guess), I want to find ways to still feel connection to them. I would love to hear how this goes for you--and maybe we can be sourdough buddies? If you find success with it, I'd love to hear how you do it.
Thanks so much for letting me know how you connected to these words of mine. I'm so sorry for the loss of your mom.
During the pandemic a friend gave me a bit of starter and the very same thing happened...it died. But I am curious and love sourdough bread so watched videos and got a new batch started. It is now, 3 years later, a thriving starter that I often share, but I have almost killed it several times. It, like most things, requires nuturing and patience. BREAD making requires patience and slowing down. Patiently observing the rise of the bread. There are basic rules, but when it is colder outside and in your home, it is a slower process. SLOW is not something our generation is good with. I bake at least twice a month with the starter...and for the most part have stopped buying bread from the store. I love exploring different recipes...but the number of failed attempts is almost comical...still trying to get the "perfect" loaf, while keeping my starter healthy and happy. That steady persistence will when the day...
Oh, this is so encouraging! Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I have never been great with slow, or with steady persistence. But I am determined to develop these traits (along with bread-making skills). I've actually realized that the slowness is part of what I'm coming to love about bread-making. I like that it requires intention and planning ahead. I like monitoring the rise. It all feels like magic.
Ah, sourdough! This is a wonderful exploration of how we learn and grow, Rita, and I love how you've connected it to the various chapters of your life...of our lives. Delicious!!
Years back, someone gave me the starter for "Friendship Bread," which is similar but sweeter. That ended in a messy disaster one day. Years later, I took to making the no-knead bread that calls for yeast, beer and vinegar - giving it a sourdough adjacent taste and longevity.
Just before the pandemic, a friend gave me some of her starter which I kept going for a long time but found I wasn't baking often enough to remind me to be a good caregiver. So, I'm in a starterless stage again and infrequently buying a loaf here and there from those I know who bake it with care.
What I can offer in the way of advice you didn't ask for are these three ideas:
1. Temperature and time are partners in this dance. If your house is cooler (like mine), just give it more time and it should come around. You can always feed it again if you think it needs that.
2. Google recipes for small batch starters and for using refrigerated starter, if you (like me) aren't keen on tossing out so much mix every time. Oh, and tart, older discarded starter makes amazing crackers!
2. Don't overthink it. Let it do its thing. It will. Just like us, if given the space and grace we need. 🧡
I would love to know more about the messy disaster. How could a little jar of starter result in disaster? Enquiring minds want to know...
And on this topic, I absolutely welcome unsolicited advice! I might be thinking of myself as a continuer rather than a beginner, but I haven't been continuing for very long down this particular road. All signposts are welcome. I suspect you might be right about the overthinking. I've been known to do that a time or two. (Or a thousand)
I am loving my no-knead bread, and I also had recent success with a recipe for kneaded bread that made loaves perfect for sandwiches. I did break the kneading hook on my mixer, however. I have a lot of learning by way of failing the past two weeks. But it's all good!
I'm sure Chapin is a font of information and is better suited to good advice. The patience piece was just something I had to teach myself, given that I tried to murder my starter by ignoring it in the refrigerator for far too many weeks at a time. I managed to revive it on many different occasions. Poor dear landed in such a hard life with me. And, I know a thing or twenty about overthinking!
🤔 😬 🤣
I wrote a bit about the Friendship Bread disaster here:
Wrapping incandescent tree lights are perfect for adding the right amount of heat. I started mine using dehydrated starter from homestead and chill and had a great deal of success, but I get wanting to start it on your own. (But I also don’t think you need to leave it outside.)
I like your conclusion that we're not starting anew each time, we're continuing. Somehow that takes the pressure off me in a way I've never considered before. As for baking bread we tried all sorts of recipes during the lockdown portion of the pandemic and decided: 1) we can do it; but 2) we won't do it unless forced by circumstances beyond our control.
This response made me smile. There are definitely things I can do that I will continue to choose not to do! I'm moving toward not buying bread, but I absolutely understand why that might not be a choice others would make, even if they have all the time in the world.
I also find that thinking in terms of continuing relieves some pressure. We humans are funny animals.
What an enjoyable read! I've never been brave enough for sourdough which makes me admire your efforts even more. I'm a poor bread maker - passable but not pretty is how I'd describe them. Superb metaphor for tenacity. I hope your sourdough adventure progresses well today!
Up until December, I would have described my bread making efforts with the exact same words. I think I just finally found a good recipe. (King Arthur's no-knead bread) And, probably, learned a few things from my sporadic "passable but not pretty" attempts in the past.
I've just returned from a fairly grueling trip to the other coast, so no further adventures today! Maybe this weekend. Slow and steady, you know? Thank you for your kind words.
Okay, in the continuing saga of me trying to comment in Substack, whenever I read a new post I'm now being taken back to commenting here on this older post. I realize this isn't your doing but for the life of me I do not understand why Substack is so difficult to use. I'm hardly a blogging newbie and would consider being here IF they made this platform easily accessible.
Well, damn. I don't understand, either. Someone else emailed me a few days ago to tell me that they were emailing because they couldn't seem to comment. For whatever it's worth, I can't just write comments in response to your posts, either, because Wordpress doesn't type a good number of letters in the comment box. (Does this with Kari's blog, too.) I write them in a google doc and copy/paste it into the comment box. I'm definitely not as pleased with this platform as I initially was.
I think I figured it out! I've been copying/pasting the stuff at the end of each post from earlier posts--so the "comment" button was taking you to the original post. I just edited the most recent post's button, and I think it works now. Thank you for letting me know this wasn't working for you, or I'd never have known. Guess I need to put the buttons in new for each post.
Oh my heavens. Your words are speaking to my SOUL. Not just because I’ve been super curious about finding some sourdough starter (my curiosity is coming from a place of wanting to connect with my late mom, but I’m totally jiving with your motivations, too!), but also because I’m starting some things over and yes. It feels much more like a continuation than a starting from scratch.
Gosh. Thank you so much for this reflection. I’ll be thinking of it for days to come, I’m sure.
I love the idea of starter as a way to connect with your mom. As I miss more and more people (the collateral damage of growing older, I guess), I want to find ways to still feel connection to them. I would love to hear how this goes for you--and maybe we can be sourdough buddies? If you find success with it, I'd love to hear how you do it.
Thanks so much for letting me know how you connected to these words of mine. I'm so sorry for the loss of your mom.
During the pandemic a friend gave me a bit of starter and the very same thing happened...it died. But I am curious and love sourdough bread so watched videos and got a new batch started. It is now, 3 years later, a thriving starter that I often share, but I have almost killed it several times. It, like most things, requires nuturing and patience. BREAD making requires patience and slowing down. Patiently observing the rise of the bread. There are basic rules, but when it is colder outside and in your home, it is a slower process. SLOW is not something our generation is good with. I bake at least twice a month with the starter...and for the most part have stopped buying bread from the store. I love exploring different recipes...but the number of failed attempts is almost comical...still trying to get the "perfect" loaf, while keeping my starter healthy and happy. That steady persistence will when the day...
Oh, this is so encouraging! Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I have never been great with slow, or with steady persistence. But I am determined to develop these traits (along with bread-making skills). I've actually realized that the slowness is part of what I'm coming to love about bread-making. I like that it requires intention and planning ahead. I like monitoring the rise. It all feels like magic.
Ah, sourdough! This is a wonderful exploration of how we learn and grow, Rita, and I love how you've connected it to the various chapters of your life...of our lives. Delicious!!
Years back, someone gave me the starter for "Friendship Bread," which is similar but sweeter. That ended in a messy disaster one day. Years later, I took to making the no-knead bread that calls for yeast, beer and vinegar - giving it a sourdough adjacent taste and longevity.
Just before the pandemic, a friend gave me some of her starter which I kept going for a long time but found I wasn't baking often enough to remind me to be a good caregiver. So, I'm in a starterless stage again and infrequently buying a loaf here and there from those I know who bake it with care.
What I can offer in the way of advice you didn't ask for are these three ideas:
1. Temperature and time are partners in this dance. If your house is cooler (like mine), just give it more time and it should come around. You can always feed it again if you think it needs that.
2. Google recipes for small batch starters and for using refrigerated starter, if you (like me) aren't keen on tossing out so much mix every time. Oh, and tart, older discarded starter makes amazing crackers!
2. Don't overthink it. Let it do its thing. It will. Just like us, if given the space and grace we need. 🧡
Can't wait to see how this all turns out!
I would love to know more about the messy disaster. How could a little jar of starter result in disaster? Enquiring minds want to know...
And on this topic, I absolutely welcome unsolicited advice! I might be thinking of myself as a continuer rather than a beginner, but I haven't been continuing for very long down this particular road. All signposts are welcome. I suspect you might be right about the overthinking. I've been known to do that a time or two. (Or a thousand)
I am loving my no-knead bread, and I also had recent success with a recipe for kneaded bread that made loaves perfect for sandwiches. I did break the kneading hook on my mixer, however. I have a lot of learning by way of failing the past two weeks. But it's all good!
I'm sure Chapin is a font of information and is better suited to good advice. The patience piece was just something I had to teach myself, given that I tried to murder my starter by ignoring it in the refrigerator for far too many weeks at a time. I managed to revive it on many different occasions. Poor dear landed in such a hard life with me. And, I know a thing or twenty about overthinking!
🤔 😬 🤣
I wrote a bit about the Friendship Bread disaster here:
https://elizabethbeggins.substack.com/p/eight-thousand-seven-hundred-and
Oh, Elizabeth. That is my favorite kind of writing. The laughing hides the catch in my throat. Almost.
Wrapping incandescent tree lights are perfect for adding the right amount of heat. I started mine using dehydrated starter from homestead and chill and had a great deal of success, but I get wanting to start it on your own. (But I also don’t think you need to leave it outside.)
Excited to hear more about your adventures!
Thank you for the suggestions. I'm open to hearing about what's worked for anyone else. I know there's more than one way to grow a good starter.
I like your conclusion that we're not starting anew each time, we're continuing. Somehow that takes the pressure off me in a way I've never considered before. As for baking bread we tried all sorts of recipes during the lockdown portion of the pandemic and decided: 1) we can do it; but 2) we won't do it unless forced by circumstances beyond our control.
This response made me smile. There are definitely things I can do that I will continue to choose not to do! I'm moving toward not buying bread, but I absolutely understand why that might not be a choice others would make, even if they have all the time in the world.
I also find that thinking in terms of continuing relieves some pressure. We humans are funny animals.
What an enjoyable read! I've never been brave enough for sourdough which makes me admire your efforts even more. I'm a poor bread maker - passable but not pretty is how I'd describe them. Superb metaphor for tenacity. I hope your sourdough adventure progresses well today!
Up until December, I would have described my bread making efforts with the exact same words. I think I just finally found a good recipe. (King Arthur's no-knead bread) And, probably, learned a few things from my sporadic "passable but not pretty" attempts in the past.
I've just returned from a fairly grueling trip to the other coast, so no further adventures today! Maybe this weekend. Slow and steady, you know? Thank you for your kind words.
Okay, in the continuing saga of me trying to comment in Substack, whenever I read a new post I'm now being taken back to commenting here on this older post. I realize this isn't your doing but for the life of me I do not understand why Substack is so difficult to use. I'm hardly a blogging newbie and would consider being here IF they made this platform easily accessible.
Well, damn. I don't understand, either. Someone else emailed me a few days ago to tell me that they were emailing because they couldn't seem to comment. For whatever it's worth, I can't just write comments in response to your posts, either, because Wordpress doesn't type a good number of letters in the comment box. (Does this with Kari's blog, too.) I write them in a google doc and copy/paste it into the comment box. I'm definitely not as pleased with this platform as I initially was.
I think I figured it out! I've been copying/pasting the stuff at the end of each post from earlier posts--so the "comment" button was taking you to the original post. I just edited the most recent post's button, and I think it works now. Thank you for letting me know this wasn't working for you, or I'd never have known. Guess I need to put the buttons in new for each post.