5 Sourdough Tips
I am 1 year into my sourdough journey/making our bread(s) from scratch MOST of the time. So let me give you my 5 best sourdough tips because I am obviously a pro (kidding, kidding, I still really have no idea what I am doing….):
Get a starter from someone local to you. No need to reinvent the wheel here. Sourdough is super popular right now (or rather still?) so I am pretty sure you can probably find someone local to you willing to give you some of their starter if you bring your own jar over! My sister gave me some of her starter in January 2024. I almost killed it more then once but it is still alive and going! If you don’t know anyone, try posting on a local area Facebook group, I am willing to bet someone will share with you. If not, you can get dehydrated starters from the internet!
Use what you have. Let me say it again, use what you have. You don’t have to have any fancy tools, bowls, scoring knives etc. The ONLY thing I bought for doing sourdough was a kitchen scale and I literally bought the cheapest one our local Walmart had in the store. I use a regular mixing bowl and a rubber spatula. I keep my starter in a regular ol’ mason jar. I bake my bread in a cast iron dutch oven, because we already owned one. I don’t have proofing baskets, I don’t have a fancy scoring tool, etc. More then likely, you don’t need to buy anything to start making sourdough at home!
Find a recipe that works for you. There are about a bazillion different recipes floating around. I found one off an instagram story and I have stuck with that one since the start (with some adjustments I have made over time). I don’t do a bunch of stretch and folds (actually, being honest, sometimes I don’t do any). It is a recipe I start in the morning and bake that afternoon/evening.
Keeping your sourdough starter alive doesn’t have to be this complicated overwhelming chore…. I don’t keep discard around (actually I rarely discard in general). I don’t feed my starter everyday. But you do have to keep an eye on it to make sure it stays alive and healthy. Usually I am making something with it a couple times a week so I usually just feed it the night before I am going to bake something. If we go out of town, I stick it in the fridge. I don’t keep an overabundance of starter around, I feed it to provide just a little more then what I need to bake with. We keep our house pretty cool so it does fine sitting in the pantry without being fed every single day.
Try again. I have had some loaves that aren’t great and it took me a while to figure it out. People have different opinions on flours, water, etc. But you just need to try and try again. Figure out what works for you in your climate, altitude, house. There will be some bread failures and that is okay. Try again!