Sourdough Day 10: Willynilly Is Almost Ready to Bake! 🍞

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 fresh homemade sourdough bread from scratch — the real, wholesome, good-for-you kind. So I decided to try something I’ve never done before and create a sourdough starter using whole wheat flour. I’ve been following a method from another creator and comparing Willynilly’s progress to theirs each day — some days he’s right on track, other days he does things his own willynilly way. Hence the name.

Speaking of the name — YOU named him. I put it to a vote and my incredible community chose Willynilly, and honestly it couldn’t be more perfect. He’s unpredictable, he’s a little messy, and we love him completely.

Something happened recently that absolutely made me cry. Someone sent me an anonymous gift of bread bags — before I’ve even baked my first loaf — because they believed I would get there. They sent two beeswax bags to keep my bread in at home and a package of beautiful gift bread bags so I could give bread to others. I cannot tell you how much that meant to me. This community is everything.

Today on sourdough starter Day 10 we did our last discard before the big bake. We kept 25 grams and fed Willynilly 50 grams of flour and 50 grams of water. If he keeps doing what he’s doing, we should be ready to bake on Day 12.

I started this journey to bake bread for Jason. But somewhere along the way it became so much more than that. I can’t wait to bake my first loaf, share it with my family, and eventually give fresh homemade sourdough bread to the people I love.

Willynilly, don’t let us down. 🍞 See you on Day 11!

More From the Sourdough Journey

• Sourdough Starter Maintenance — Feed and Fridge — How I keep a starter alive and happy with a busy family schedule.
• Day 21 — Goodbye Willy & Nilly, Hello Free Willy 2 — The dramatic turn Willynilly’s story eventually takes.
• Sourdough Sandwich Bread Recipe — The loaf this whole journey is building toward, with a full printable recipe card.

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🌱 New to sourdough? Start with my Sourdough for Beginners guide — how to make a starter from scratch and bake your first loaf.

Sourdough Day 10 — About the Sourdough Journey

The Sourdough Journey is Stephanie’s series documenting her very first attempt at making sourdough bread from scratch — something she had never done before. She started this journey to make fresh homemade bread for her husband Jason, who is on a Mediterranean diet. Along the way her community helped name her whole wheat starter “Willynilly” — and together they cheered him on toward his first bake. What started as one starter became two, then took a dramatic turn — and now a whole new chapter of baking is underway. Start here at Day 1 and follow the whole story at stephaniecooksforacrowd.com!