conchord resurrected

Good news. My sourdough skills are back. And it’s all thanks to this guy, Nathan Leamy, my sourdough guru who was kind enough to swing by my house on his bike in the freezing cold to deliver me a fresh batch of his Conchord starter. Because, that’s what good teachers do.

I’ve determined that a couple of things were at play causing my sourdough not to work properly. One, I wasn’t feeding the starter enough. If left out on the counter, it should be fed once every few days. If stored in the fridge, you don’t have to feed it as often. Once a week is fine. My starter didn’t die, but it certainly wasn’t as lively as I wanted it to be. You want your starter to be fragrant and bubbly on the surface.

Two, I was feeding it equal volumes flour and water, when it should be equal weights. This made my starter a little too thin. You want it to be the consistency of thick pancake batter. And three, my apartment is freezing. When the dough is proofing, you want it to be in a warm place. I have had luck heating my oven to 200 degrees, turning it off, and then setting the dough in the slightly warmed oven with the door open. Over time it tends to get too cold again, so just repeat that quick heating process as necessary.

And four, my sourdough recipe called for a “splash of olive oil”. The way it’s written led me to believe the oil went into the dough, when really this splash is meant to grease the bowl that the dough sits in. Huge goof.

Here’s the thing, it was beginner’s luck, that first perfect loaf. My starter was fresh and active. It was warm in my kitchen that day. I ignored the olive oil step. But you know what, after many failed attempts, my last loaf was even better than the first, because now I understand the underlying principles, the chemistry, and the method behind bread baking. Lesson learned, you never truly understand a recipe until you f*%# it up completely and have to retrace your steps to figure out where you went wrong. And once you get it, the success tastes even better.