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Can we talk about my aunt telling me to date my sourdough starter and me actually listening | Analog Adventures - Babble Community

young.kim•21d ago

Can we talk about my aunt telling me to date my sourdough starter and me actually listening

My aunt Ruth bakes bread every Sunday and has for 30 years, and when I complained about my sourdough turning out flat she handed me a jar of her starter and gave me one piece of advice: write the date on a sticky note and feed it on a schedule like a pet. I rolled my eyes so hard because I thought sourdough was just flour and water and vibes, but she made me keep a little notebook by the jar. I fed it every morning at 7am for 3 weeks and wrote down the time, the room temp, and how bubbly it looked. Turns out my kitchen in Sacramento runs cold in the morning so my starter was basically asleep while I thought it was working. Once I moved the jar to the top of the fridge where it stays warmer, the thing doubled in size in about 5 hours. I baked my first loaf that actually rose last Saturday and my husband ate half of it standing at the counter. Now I keep the notebook even though it feels silly, because the dates and temps tell me more than any video ever did. Anyone else keep a paper log for their starter, or am I the only one writing diary entries for bread?

2 comments

2 Comments

tylerpark17d ago

Tracked something like this for beer brewing years ago and the weird part wasnt the feeding schedule, it was realizing my whole kitchen has microclimates. Top of the fridge, above the stove, that one corner near the window, theyre all different temps and I never noticed. Your starter basically told you your Sacramento kitchen has a cold zone in the morning, which is info no bread video can give you because those people are baking in totally different houses. The notebook isnt silly at all, its a record of your specific kitchen and nobody elses. My wife thought I was nuts keeping brew logs until my batches got consistent and then she wanted charts too.

thear5317d ago

Same thing happened with my sourdough, I kept a little log for like two months of where it sat and how it looked in the morning. Turned out the spot by the coffee maker was the magic one, way better than the counter everyone says to use. Once I figured that out the bread got way more consistent and my partner stopped rolling her eyes at my notes.