Sourdough Day 21: Goodbye Willy and Nilly — Hello Free Willy 2

Sourdough Day 21 is here, and I have some news. Willy and Nilly did not make it. After 20 days of feeding, adjusting, troubleshooting, moving them to warmers, switching up ratios, and cheering them on with everything I had — there are no signs of life. And so, with a grateful heart, we are thanking them for their service and letting them go.

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I won’t pretend I’m not a little sad about it. I got attached to those two. But here’s the thing — I learned so much on this journey, and I genuinely hope it was at least a little entertaining for all of you too. None of it was wasted. Willy and Nilly will not have been in vain.

So what’s next? Two things. First, I’m getting an already established starter because I really want to start baking bread and I don’t want to wait. Second — and this is the part I’m most excited about — I am starting a brand new whole wheat starter from scratch. Jason and I talked about it this morning and we both agreed: we’re not quitting. We’re just veering off onto a different path.

And we have a name for the new whole wheat starter. Meet Free Willy 2. 🐋

Twenty-one days ago I set out to make a sourdough starter from scratch — something I had never done before in my life. I had no idea what I was doing, my community helped me name my starter Willynilly, and together we went on quite a ride.

We watched Willynilly go from a brand new mixture of flour and water all the way through liquidy stages, color changes, ratio adjustments, and eventually a split into two separate starters — Willy and Nilly — one whole wheat for Jason’s Mediterranean diet and one all-purpose for everything else. We moved them to the oven with the light on. We bought counter warmers. We reset ratios. We cheered.

And then we lost them.

I think the moment things started going downhill was when I got a little careless with the measurements. Jason and I talked about it this morning and we both landed on the same conclusion — being willy-nilly with a sourdough starter is probably not the best approach. You have to be precise. That is lesson number one from this entire experience and I will carry it into everything I do next.

So here is the plan going forward. I am going to source an already established starter so I can get to baking bread as soon as possible — because that is ultimately what this whole journey has been about. At the same time, I am starting a brand new whole wheat starter from scratch. I want to know that I did it. I want to do it for Jason. And I want to do it right this time — with better precision, better consistency, and everything I learned from Willy and Nilly guiding me along the way. The new starter’s name? Free Willy 2. We loved the idea of keeping Willy in the name, and honestly the whole “Free Willy” energy felt exactly right for a fresh start.

If you have been following along with the Sourdough Journey from the beginning, all the way to Sourdough Day 21, thank you. Truly. Your comments, your encouragement, and your tips have meant so much to me. We are not done. We are just going on a different path. And I cannot wait to share what comes next.

If you are thinking about starting your own sourdough adventure, here are the supplies I used with Willy and Nilly:

• Weck Tulip Sourdough Starter Jars  — these are the exact jars Willy and Nilly lived in for the whole journey
• Electric Sourdough Starter Warmer  — we got two of these in the final days and they are fantastic

Find all my sourdough supplies in The Sourdough Pantry!

More From the Sourdough Journey

• Sourdough Sandwich Bread — Meet Pearl & Let’s Make Some Dough! — The first bake of the new chapter this goodbye made possible.
• Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread Recipe — The loaf Free Willy 2 grows up to bake for Jason, with a full printable recipe card.
• Sourdough Starter Maintenance — Feed and Fridge — Everything I learned about keeping starters alive, the routine that works.

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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 21 — About the Sourdough Journey

The Sourdough Journey is Stephanie’s series documenting her very first attempt at making sourdough bread from scratch. What started as one whole wheat starter named Willynilly became two — Willy and Nilly — before the journey took a dramatic turn. Now a whole new chapter of baking is underway with Pearl and Free Willy 2. Start at Day 1 and follow the whole story at stephaniecooksforacrowd.com!