Soft on the Outside, Fermented on the Inside

My first sourdough starter attempt ended in chaos and tears. I read the dainty little instruction card with fierce concentration and even made notes. For two weeks straight, I weighted flour, added water, and stirred while saying a prayer that this too like so many other things going on in my life would not fail. Life's funny like that. Why is it when we are already over-stimulated, over-committed, over-all-the-things, do we decide to start a "new hobby"? I had recently left a decade long career in the medical field and had thrown myself in to a completely new industry. Don't get me wrong, this was a welcomed pivot! However, it came with many new challenges. Not only was this a new industry, it was also a completely remote position. I went from chatting with coworkers and caring for patients daily to staring at a computer screen and joining endless Teams meetings. All. Day. Long. So naturally, this is precisely the time I needed to start my sourdough journey that was guaranteed to mess with my emotions to add insult to injury. It's just the burnout Millennial way I suppose.

I thoughtfully named my starter - and then renamed it almost daily, lol. I would tend to this little guy every morning as I awaited the song of my soul - my boiling kettle. I'd make my pour over coffee and sip this magic bean juice while oogling my little sourdough starter. It was a sweet ritual at first. I remember being so excited to see the bubbles and notice action happening. I was feeling super confident about this new adventure. Then about two weeks in - right when I was about to actually try my hand at baking my loaf, it died. It quite literally flatlined and refused to rise above my rubber-band marker. No amount of resuscitation helped. I stared at the jar and cried. I was bummed. In the moment, I felt like it was just another disappointment in what seemed like a long list of failures I'd recently been accummulating. I had carefully cared for and discarded this little scoundrel religiously only to have it completely discard MY feelings. So, I did what any mildly emotionally-regulated Millennial does. I tossed that sucker in the garbage, counted it as another flop, and hung up my apron.

Then, a few weeks later, I came across the social media account of these two super cute and funny Cajun ladies - The Cajun Mamas. After watching their funny videos and content, I decided to give this sourdough thing another try and ordered some of their dehydrated starter. I'm not going to lie - it was touch and go a quite a few times! At one point, I'd named my starter Lazarus because it just basically rose from the dead. It's still a bit of a love-hate (more love than hate) relationship at times, but I've come a LONG way! I've never branched out and made any fancy loaves with add-ins/inclusions and have one tried and true recipe I make weekly. There's just something so satisfying about cutting into a freshly baked loaf and slathering a big ole' piece with grass-fed <usually Kirkland's brand 😂> butter!

I've grown to love the slowness of the process. IYKYK. An 18-hour bulk rise will sure as heck slow your roll, literally. And honestly, I think that's precisely what draws us Feral Millennials to this #SourdoughLife. It quite literally forces us to slow down all while allowing us to show up for something small when showing up for ourselves seems impossible. 💗

My favorite sourdough recipe: The Clever Carrot Sourdough For Beginners

Sourdough starter by the Cajun Mamas: "Virgie" - Dehydrated Sourdough Starter

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