Life Lessons From a Sourdough Starter

A lot of us have a second fridge our houses, maybe even in the garage. You know, the one that has drinks, extra butter, and frozen entrees in it? We have one of those fridges and for years it has kept a sourdough starter chilled. You’ve heard of sourdough bread before… the crispy crust, the fluffy inner. Well to make sourdough bread, you must use sourdough starter. The starter is naturally occurring yeast and lactic acid bacteria that is used along with the other ingredients to make the bread rise. It also gives sourdough bread that unique taste! To keep the sourdough starter healthy and active, you must feed it; every day if you keep your starter at room temperature, and about once a week if you keep it in the fridge. Feed it? Is this thing alive? Well yes, it’s yeast and bacteria, and you feed it with just water and flour!

For the past few years, we have opted to keep our starter in the fridge because we had not been using it to make bread regularly and a cool environment slows down the fermentation. At first, it was easy to remember to feed it weekly… then that turned into every 2 weeks, 3 weeks, a month. You get the picture; our sourdough starter was being neglected.

A few weeks ago, I noticed the lonely starter in the back of our secondary fridge. At this point, it had been upwards of 2 months since anyone had fed it. It was of clay-like consistency with a lot of ‘hooch on the top of it’ (the alcohol given off from the starter as the yeast ferments; it appears when the starter has not been fed in a while). Was it even alive anymore?

I am not big into New Year’s resolutions, but 2023 was approaching and I thought to myself… why not teach myself all about sourdough this year and hopefully become good at making bread with it! Great idea… except I need to figure out if this starter is even viable anymore. I did some research. Most sourdough enthusiasts that I came across on the internet said that I should pour off the hooch, and then feed the starter using a 1:1:1 ratio of starter, flour, and water. I decided I would use 100g of each. It was recommended that it be fed every 24 hours at the beginning to help increase the bacteria count, and then as it became healthier, increase feedings to every 12 hours, then maybe even 6.

I got out my food scale and started feeding the starter on a regular schedule. A healthy starter will begin to rise and bubble shortly after being fed, but mine was not doing that right away. There were a couple of bubbles, so I knew there was something living in there, but it did not rise very much. Eventually though, it did rise about an inch in the container I keep it in. The next time I fed it, it rose a bit more, then a bit more. After only a few days, the starter was doubling in size within a few hours. SUCCESS!

I mentioned above that I am using 100g of starter each time I feed it. So, what am I doing with the remaining starter every time I feed it? In the first couple of days, I was discarding the excess as it was not very active, but that ‘discard’ is usually what is used to bake with!

The first thing I made with my newly revived sourdough starter was a basic sourdough bread using a recipe that I found online. The recipe was simple but compared the bread recipe I was used to using it was a longer process. But when it was done, it was so good! A couple of days later, I made sourdough pancakes – which were not too different to regular pancakes, except they did have a hint of that classic sour flavour and they were so fluffy!

After a couple weeks of feeding the starter every 12 hours and storing it at room temperature, I was going to be working a few long shifts so I knew that I would not have the time to feed it regularly, let alone use it to make anything. I fed the starter and then put it in the fridge. Like I mentioned, this slows down fermentation and allows for longer periods between feedings. And then when you’re ready to start using it again, you take it out and start feeding it like normal.

It is just the beginning of my sourdough journey, and I am super excited to try different recipes!

Now, why am I writing about sourdough on my doula services website? What I actually wanted to talk about in this blog is self-care, resiliency, and the need for boundaries. In this attempt at creating a metaphor, you are both the sourdough starter and the person who has been taking care of it.

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 The neglected sourdough was still alive in the fridge, but the consistency was off, and it was generally unwell. With some regular care, it came back and is now better than ever! The same can go for you. You may find yourself in a rut; over worked, tired, with low self-confidence and so on. By setting a goal to do something small, just for you, every day or every couple of days, you may find that your whole outlook changes! Sure, you can survive without a little TLC like the starter did, but wouldn’t you rather thrive (at whatever level thriving means to you)?

However, it took a few days for the starter to bounce back from its clay-like state after it was neglected, so I had to be patient. If you have been feeling down, you do not need to expect that you will be functioning at your personal max right away after taking a break. It may take some time, and that is ok!

As I mentioned, to make anything with the starter, you must use some of it, but also leave a good portion behind to feed and to maintain the health of the starter. Similarly, how much of yourself can you give to others while maintaining your own boundaries? Do you know when to take a step back to? Like the sourdough, if you keep giving and giving without taking care of yourself, soon there will be nothing left to give.

And here the last connection I will try to make. When I know I won’t have time to make anything with the sourdough starter, I feed it and then put it in the fridge. At first, I put myself under pressure to use the starter on a very regular basis, but then I remembered I didn’t need to do this. It is ok for me to take breaks from making bread, and it is ok for you to take breaks from whatever is making you tired – even if it is just a small one.

Well did any of that make sense? I hope so!

On a side note – if anyone wants to start working with sourdough starter, let me know, I am happy to share mine!