My neighbor was going through some of his wife’s old cookbooks. He came across some recipes using a sourdough starter, tried them, and was bragging to me about how good his pancakes were. I didn’t really know too much about sourdough, so I asked him for some of his starter. I had always thought that sourdough starter was some magical family heirloom that was passed down through generations, and if your family didn’t have any, you had to get it from a willing neighbor or friend. But, instead of giving me some of his sourdough starter, he gave me a recipe and told me to go make my own. And so, my sourdough education began. I found a couple of awesome websites that explained sourdough from A to Z and provided recipes and instructions. I gleaned a lot of information, and as much as I love sourdough bread, the more I read, the more I began to think that it was just too labor intensive for me! I decided to give it a try anyway, just for the experience. Here are some things that I learned: 1) sourdough starter is NOT always a sacred family heirloom and you CAN make a good starter from scratch, 2) you can NOT stick your starter in the back of your fridge and forget about it for months and then pull it out and use it, you DO have to tend to it regularly, 3) although a good loaf of sourdough bread DOES take some forethought, it’s really NOT that bad…and, dare I say, absolutely worth it!
