A few weeks ago, my girlfriend gifted me some sourdough starter, after she experienced much success baking her own loaves. Intrigued & some what fearful, when Sarah asked me if I would like some starter I said “yes!” though I’m terrified of bread dough! It all started about a decade ago when I tried to make bread, which produced most inedible pile of flour and water known to humankind. Since then, I hadn’t ventured back into the land of bread.

A sourdough starter, made of flour and filtered water is somewhat of a “vessel” to carry wild yeast, which is naturally occurring everywhere. Wild yeast is a living organism, so you need to “feed” your starter daily. My starter is fed certain portions of filtered water (chlorine retards the growth process) and plain flour. The wild yeast in the starter reacts with the newly added water and flour, and during the peak acidity the volume of the starter can more than double! As time goes by, the starter “matures” and the sour scent becomes stronger. You can get quite attached to your starter, as you care for it like a pet. Mine is named Kiara, as Sarah’s one is named Simba (in Lion King 2, Simba has a daughter named Kiara).

There are a few scientific things I got obsessed with in the process, but I am going to tell my sourdough story short n’ sweetly!

The night before I planned to bake the loaf, I prepared my starter by feeding her at 5pm. This is because the best time to use the starter is between 5-10 hours after feeding, which is during “peak activity”. Around 10pm, I added water to my starter & combined in a glass bowl white spelt flour, wholemeal spelt flour & pink Himalayan salt. I mixed the wet ingredients with the dry, and let the dough rest for one hour

Once rested, I was required to “stretch & fold” the dough. This begins to activate the gluten within the dough and basically required you to pull one side of the dough as high as possible above the bowl and fold it over to its opposite side. Every 15 mins for one hour, you repeat this process. Finally, it is time to leave the dough for at least 8-10 hours. I left the dough around midnight and went to bed, knowing the next morning will be d-day!

Around 9:30am, I turned the dough out on a floured surface & had to fold her edges into the middle. This helps creates “tension” within the dough’s skin and allows it to keep its shape. In hindsight I didn’t do this enough, and my dough was very flat and floppy prior to baking.

After folding, flip the dough over & use your floured hands to “shape” the dough into a circular ball. Once you’re happy with it, quickly and carefully place the dough into a proving basket to rest for an additional 1.5-2.5 hours. When your dough is 30 min away from being baked, place a cast iron pot (with lid) into the oven and preheat.

When the dough is bubbly, with a light skin formed & has risen in size yet again, it’s ready for baking! Carefully turn the dough on to a piece of baking paper. Using a blade, score your dough. Quickly place the dough in the pot & place lid on. Put pot back in the oven, THIS IS THE POINT OF NO RETURN!

14 hours later, my sourdough loaf was ready. Loud, crunchy crumb as you cut through, with a steamy soft-but-dense tasty body. It’s true what they say - it’s so much tastier when you’ve slogged out the whole journey!

I hope this brief summary encourages those who too are curious about baking bread! Truth be told, it’s a long process so I would recommend starting it on a Friday or Saturday night, to enjoy the fruit of your labour during lunch or dinner the day after!