When I was a kid, I remember my mom had a sourdough starter, and occasionally we would pull it out, add some flour and water to it, wait for some ambiguous “activity” and then mix it into English muffins or some other recipe. I don’t really remember if there was more to it or not, to be honest with you, but I do remember that at some point after I moved out, I got some sourdough starter from her again. I also remember pulling it out of the back of my fridge, with a deep layer of black liquid and ice crystals on it, and I assumed it was dead, so I pitched it, and started a new one from scratch.
I attempted a few loaves of “sourdough bread” using the recipe that came with my bread maker, but never really noticed a difference in the flavor, and it wasn’t ‘functional’ bread. It was okay for toast, but you couldn’t make a sandwich with it, and once it was a day or two old, you could barely cut it anymore without it crumbling. About the time I was becoming disheartened with the whole bread situation, I had my oldest son, and baking took a backseat. I knocked out a few birthday cakes and pies, and the occasional batch of cookies, but the baby years with my two boys were all-consuming.
During the summer of 2023, like so many people, I started getting back into bread-making. I tried a few commercial yeast recipes, but none of them really captured my heart, and with everything still going on in my life, if my heart isn’t in a hobby, it’s not going to happen. Then I found a recipe for real sourdough bread, and I realized that the sourdough I had made a few years ago wasn’t “really” sourdough - it had starter in it, but it didn’t give the wild yeast any time to develop, and I think it also had commercial yeast in it. So, I pulled my starter out of the fridge, and started bringing it back to life.
Over the next 4-5mo or so, I tried several different recipes before finding one that I had some mild success with, and that success got me excited!! That’s when I started developing this recipe. I combined things I was learning with a few tidbits from the recipes I had tried before, and experimented with a few other steps, and now I have a recipe that turns out each time, and it is delicious! Baking is therapeutic for me. It’s something that I can do just for that…that has the fringe benefit of saving us money, and making healthier, delicious bread for my family. I’m happier when I have dough fermenting somewhere, and I am so excited to share that with you!
If you want to get started, but you’re not sure how, head on over here, and grab my Sourdough Starter bundle! It’ll come with everything you need to start making delicious bread for your family! And stay tuned, because I am working on so many more fun, helpful, and interactive resources to support you in your efforts to provide the best options you can for your family.
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