Sourdough Journey

Sourdough Day 17 and I have NEWS — Willy and Nilly finally started to smell better. Our two little starters have been doubling for a while, but that smell! Really! However, the smell is so much better today! Y’all, I was almost ready to throw in the towel. I’m not going to lie. But they…

Sourdough Day 16 — and I genuinely did not think we would still be here, but here we are, and honestly? It’s all good. Willy and Nilly are still very much alive. They are doubling, they are bubbling, and they are doing what starters do. But there is still a strong smell hanging around, and…

Sourdough Day 15 is here, and Willy and Nilly have a brand new home — and no, I don’t mean a new jar. They’ve moved off the counter and into the cupboard! After a little cold snap here in Florida and some late-night research, I started to wonder if my kitchen was the problem. Stone…

Sourdough Day 14, and I am happy to report — Willy and Nilly are alive and kicking! Are they ready to bake with? Not quite yet. But they are bubbling, they are doubling, and they are full of life. And honestly? That is enough for today. Everything I have been reading says that as long…

Sourdough Day 13 — and before you say anything, yes, I know 13 is supposed to be unlucky. But I am wearing my lucky St. Patrick’s Day shirt, so we are going to be just fine. Today is a big day in the Sourdough Journey because after some measurement mishaps yesterday, I took things back…

Sourdough Day 12 is here and I have good news and a confession. The good news? Willynilly did great — he doubled beautifully. I am so proud of him. The confession? I messed up my measurements. I forgot to clear my scale and got everything completely out of whack. So I did what any reasonable…

Sourdough Day 11 is here and Willynilly has news — good news and hungry news. The good news: he doubled in size. Willynilly is growing and that is exactly what we want to see. The hungry news: he is still smelling strongly of acetone. If you have been following along you know that an acetone…

Sourdough Day 10 is here and I have never made sourdough bread in my life — not once. But here we are, and our little Willynilly is almost all grown up. If you’re just joining us, let me catch you up. My husband Jason recently started a Mediterranean diet, and I wanted to make him…

Sourdough Day 9 is here and Willynilly is moving up in the world — literally. Today we gave him a fresh start in a clean jar, and things are looking really good. We transferred 30 grams of starter to a new jar and kept our 1:2:2 ratio going — feeding him 60 grams of flour…

Sourdough Day 8 is here and Willynilly is doing something I have been waiting for — his very first rise and fall! If you look closely at the jar, you can see a faint line all the way around the edge where he rose up and then came back down. That, my friends, is a…