Life Lessons from Making and Baking Sourdough Bread

There are millions of recipes out there. Pick one and try it. See how it goes. If you fail, try something else next time.

When you are just starting out, read the instructions carefully. Several times. Come back to them if you get stuck.

Baking bread is just messy. Don’t worry about it. Clean up after you are done and don’t leave the clean up for the next person.

When you are just learning to bake, precision really matters. Once you get the hang of it, start experimenting.

Follow the recipe and once comfortable, start riffing and adding your own take to the bake.

Sourdough starter stinks when you start working with it, but by the end, it comes out smelling and tasting beautiful.

Baking is iterative and full of trial and error. If you are not willing to experiment and roll with the little roadblocks that pop up, you will not be able to enjoy baking.

You have to have the time to do it right. You can’t rush it or skip the steps.

To be a great baker, there is an element of feel to the art of kneading the dough. You can follow the directions exactly but at some point, you just know the dough is ready. Pay attention to what you are sensing.

Once the process starts, don’t interrupt it or stop it. Let it play out and see where it goes.

Sometimes you need to knead the dough gently, other times you need to beat it into submission.

The best bread, like all food, is best baked with heart.

Always make two loaves and give one away to someone you care about it or someone who just needs it.

You get better at baking when you work at it. It may take a few days to get the basic ideas down and a lifetime to master.

I think people are baking more for a couple of reasons.

Baking is elemental and simple. It is nothing more than a few simple ingredients; water, flour, yeast, salt, sugar and time. And love.

Baking is tactile. You have to use your hands and get dirty to do it right. Bread machines are for people who don’t have the time to do it right. You always have the time to do it right.

Baking teaches us patience. My recipe required five days of tender loving care with the sourdough starter for a few minutes a day in order to grow into the needed to begin the process.

Baking requires us to interact with a living thing – yeast. That is why so many of us are naming our sourdough starters like we do our pets. Because it is alive and we have to take care of it to make it work.

Baking reminds us of our history. We all remember the smell of fresh bread coming out of the oven at some point in our lives. There is nothing like this comforting and sustaining smell that harkens back to a simpler time and connects us somehow with prior generations.

Baking requires us to use all of our sense to the fullest. Particularly, the senses of touch smell and taste.

Baking rewards us with a tangible outcome that we can touch, taste and see. You always get feedback on your work, whether it turns out well or not.

We all need our daily bread.