Sourdough bread gets its signature taste and texture from a starter of fermented mixture of flour and water, which helps the dough rise.
By Haley Scarpino
So how’s everyone’s 2020 sourdough starter doing?
Like many others during the pandemic, I also started one and baked heaps of bread. In the spring of 2020, I was in my second semester at DMACC’s Iowa Culinary Institute in Ankeny when the whole world shut down.
After spring break, our classes moved online. So each week, we picked up a kit with ingredients and recipes, then cooked and photographed everything at home. I’ll confess I was a little disappointed: I went to culinary school to learn how to cook in a professional kitchen, not how to cook at home. I already had that down.
Thankfully, we returned to in-person classes later that summer. Only first-year students attended, so the kitchens weren’t crowded. We all wore masks for safety. Most professional kitchens are very clean places with ample air circulation. At school, the vents above each stove constantly pumped in fresh air, and I probably washed my hands 10,000 times. Somehow, we made it through the summer without a single case of COVID.
That spring, everyone seemed to be making bread. Since I had a baking teacher and unlimited flour (remember how scarce it was?), I decided to jump in.
My teacher helped me grow a sourdough starter from scratch using water and whole rye flour. It grew over the next couple of weeks into “Alice,” and I’m proud to say she’s still going strong to this day. I feed her weekly with water and bread flour. She’s like a little loving fridge pet.
I’ve baked countless loaves of rustic boules and focaccia with Alice. There is nothing quite as delicious as a giant, thick golden loaf of freshly baked focaccia topped with rosemary and flaky sea salt.
Resources
One of my go-to online resources is Oregon-based Rosehill Sourdough, whose owner, Mike Vaona, breaks down the whole process in a way that’s easy to follow. Most of his recipes have corresponding YouTube videos, so you can see precisely how he makes bread. I find that very helpful. (Seriously, how did anyone learn anything new before the internet?)
“The Sweet Side of Sourdough“ by Caroline Schiff is another favorite, full of sweet sourdough recipes like her delicious Double Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Another favorite book is “Flour Power: The Practical Pursuit of Baking Sourdough Bread“ by Tara Jensen. (Her first book, “A Baker’s Year,” is also great.) “Flour Power” is filled with clear, practical instructions and great recipes, such as the City Queen Loaf, Milk Bread and Olive Bread.
Tools and tips
A few tools make caring for a starter easier and more fun. I love my wooden sourdough spatula, also sometimes called a spurtle. There are many great options available, but I use a skinny teak model for stirring my sourdough starter.
I feed Alice weekly using a 2:2:1 ratio: 100 grams of water, 100 grams of bread flour, and 50 grams of Alice. Bakers often disagree about the ratios and schedules, but this approach has worked well for me over the last five years.
I store Alice in a 1-liter, tulip-shaped Weck jar with a plastic lid. I prefer glass for storage. I clean her jar weekly when I feed her. (I like a tidy house, and I think Alice does, too.) After I feed her, I let her eat for a couple of hours and then tuck her back in the fridge.
These days, I make bread in fits and starts. It’s fun and so delicious that I never know why I don’t just make it all the time, but sometimes it feels like a lot of work and I lose interest. However, I still feed Alice weekly, regardless of my bread-making mood. It keeps her strong, and she’s always just waiting for me.
I’m curious what happened to all the folks started sourdough projects during the pandemic. Did you start one? Are you still making bread?
If you’re curious about baking bread, the best thing to do is just start. Trying to learn everything all at once will drive you nuts, but honestly, it’s not that complicated: just flour, water, salt — and practice. The more you do it, the more it will make sense. Find one resource you like and go with that.
And remember: Alice and I are rooting for you.
Haley Scarpino is a chef, home cook, recipe tester, food editor and graduate of the Iowa Culinary Institute.
