Capturing Wild Yeast (ie I, too, have fallen prey to the sourdough craze)
In which I realize, belatedly, that I might not actually like sourdough
Guys. I don’t know what you’re up to lately, but if you’re anything like me, you’ve been doing a lot of:
1) Sitting
2) Reading
3) Staring out the window
4) Valiantly attempting to do your day job at 100%
5) Checking Twitter
6) Being depressed
7) Getting really, REALLY obsessed with sourdough bread!!!
Let’s skip 1-6. With the exception of 2, they’re not so much fun.
I am so into sourdough bread baking? How did this happen? I don’t even like sourdough that much. If anyone had asked me to name my favorite bread (why has no one asked me this before) I would have said fresh baguettes, or perhaps cinnamon-raisin bread, or maybe bagels, if we’re getting broader here. And yet. Here I am, with everyone else on Twitter and Instagram, newly obsessed with sourdough bread.
In, my defense, I did not have any yeast when we started quarantining. So if I wanted to bake bread, I would need to CULTIVATE MY OWN YEAST. In my non-defense but sort-0f-explanation, I’m also incredibly stubborn and like a challenge.
And thus, I embarked on my tw0-ish week adventure!
Day 1: Start the starter
This turned out to be wicked easy! All I had to do was mix one part flour to one part water. Done. Sit in in a
Days 2-9: Feed and monitor the starter
Feed the starter! I love this! That’s a weird thing to say, that you’re feeding something, so I’m into it! Also it made me feel like time was passing and I was doing something, which I highly recommend if you’re trapped inside your small city apartment for 23 hours a day save during your state regulated constitutional.
This did turn out to be much messier than I expected, which left me stressed and constantly cleaning the kitchen. Each day - and soon, twice I day - you reserve 113 grams of starter, toss the rest, and add equal parts flour and water. I hated wasting so much flour, so instead of tossing the discard, I made endless amounts of these tiny crumpets. Half of which are now parked in my freezer, ready to perform their duty as snack at any moment.
I got stressed around Day 8 that my starter wasn’t doubling in size, the way it’s supposed to - thus proving your yeast is working - but luckily I have a lot of friends who are just as bougie as I am who were also making sourdough starters (my work has a SLACK CHANNEL devoted to sourdough, yes, this is real life) and one suggested using bottled water instead of tap. Who knew! Sourdough starter can ALSO be bougie! Apparently salt inhibits yeast growth, and the local tap water has a high sodium count, which was really slowing it down.
Day 10: Bake Bread
I AM QUEEN OF THE SOURDOUGH BOW DOWN TO ME
Turns out I don’t like sourdough that much?? Also this was dense AF. But at least it was pretty and instagramable so I counted it as a win, because I am basic like that.
Day 18: Second Bake
Your sourdough starter needs to be removed from the fridge and fed each week, which also means throwing out the discard - or cooking with it. So I made two more loaves. And! They turned out! BEAUTIFULLY! By which I mean they actually tasted good. And there was celebration throughout the land.
Anyway, who knows how long I’ll keep this up for, but
