Sourdough Day 8: Willynilly’s First Rise and Fall 🍞

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 very good sign. He is staying active with bubbles and tracking like a straight-A student. Day 8 and we are still in this together.

If you are just joining us, I started this sourdough journey from scratch in early March to make homemade bread for Jason, who is on a Mediterranean diet. My community helped name our whole wheat starter Willynilly, and we have been documenting every single day together. Welcome to Day 8!

What Happened on Day 8

The big milestone today was seeing Willynilly’s first rise and fall. There was a little clear line all the way around the inside of the jar — evidence that he rose up and then came back down while I wasn’t watching. This is exactly what is supposed to happen. He is active, he is bubbly, and he is doing his thing.

Feeding Willynilly on Day 8

Today’s feeding looked like this:

Discarded everything except about one tablespoon of starter — this keeps the good bacteria thriving without the jar overflowing. Then fed him 60 grams of flour and 60 grams of water to keep the 1:1 ratio going. I got a little creative with my scale (59 grams here, 126 there — we’re doing our best, Willynilly), but we landed in a good spot at roughly 1:1.30, which is close enough for a Day 8 starter.

From here, Willynilly should be fed daily and should start doubling in size before falling back down. We are getting closer to baking every single day.

I told my daughter he reminds me of a teenage boy — specifically Alex — hungry all the time and never, ever full. If you have a teenage boy in your house, you know exactly what I mean. 😄

See you again tomorrow for Day 9!

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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Sourdough Day 8 — 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!