I first started baking bread around two years ago, I enjoyed having a go at baking any type of loaf. However, I was always a tad hesitant when it came to sourdough, i saw the dedication it took and the added complexities of effectively creating and utilising your own rising agent.
So when i first had a go at it about a year ago, i was overwhelmed by how well it had worked and how straightforward it was (i made my own starter from scratch over a 5 day period and baked on the final day).
Although, as good as it tasted, there was something niggling at the back of my mind, “Is this….it?”, I had made a beautiful loaf that had taken the best part of a week to make. It tasted great, but….was this all it was?
I started to experiment, maybe i needed to use different flours, recipes, baking methods, etc. Everyone on the internet would rave about how great this creation was. But up to now, it didn’t seem worth the extra effort.
The problem with experimenting with sourdough is that it takes so much time. It took months and eventually sucked the fun out of my bread making. Over time, I would rarely make bread, and when i did it wasn’t as fun as it used to be.
So when the lockdown came in, I finally had time to experiment freely, I could feed my starter and use it when it was primed and ready, not just when I got home from work. I made loaf after loaf all coming out tasting great and looking fine. But I realised what i should of realised a long time ago. It just wasn’t worth it. I started to go back to using yeast, and quickly started baking more and more with added vigor.
There are so many types of bread to make, but i had lost sight of that whilst chasing the sourdough dragon. I think a lot of the hype around sourdough is the magic of cultivating your own yeast and maintaining your starter (usually given a pet name) which you can mobilise at your will, confounding your friends and family with this little jar of witchcraft.
For the forseeable future, my starter (affectionately named Audrey) is frozen in time in the bottom drawer of my freezer.
Sourdough has had its time for me and for now, I’m having a lot more fun baking Brioche, Country loaves and Rye bread.
Marks Cooking Conquest 