Sourdough Diary
My first sourdough starter: what nobody told me
Lea Moore
6 min read · 3 voice notes
Three years ago, I decided to bake my own bread. I had read ten tutorials, bought a jar and some rye flour, and I was convinced it would be easy.
First lesson: a starter is alive. It gets hungry, it gets cold, it sulks. Recipes give you precise quantities, but none of them mention the temperature of your kitchen.
Transcript
I'll be honest with you: my first starter died after four days. My kitchen was sixteen degrees, and it never got going.
I started again with the jar next to the oven, feeding it morning and evening. After a week, the bubbles arrived, along with a slightly sour, yoghurt-like smell.
That's when I made the classic mistake: baking too early. A starter that doubles in four hours is ready. Before that, it will give you a dense, flat and slightly sad loaf.
Transcript
My trick: drop a spoonful of starter into a glass of water. If it floats, you're good to go. If it sinks, wait a few more hours, and don't cheat.
For baking, a cast-iron pot changes everything. It traps steam around the dough for the first twenty minutes, and that's what gives you a crust that crackles as it cools.
Transcript
If I started over, I'd write everything down in a notebook: the time, the temperature, the flour. That's how you really get to know your starter.
Today I bake two loaves a week. They aren't perfect, but they're mine, and my neighbours have stopped pretending to like them.