Some time ago, long before it became hip during COVID, I had my own sourdough baking era. It was filled with my typical obsessive nature, hemming and hawing over the best wheat varieties to mill, eventually sourcing premium wheat direct from farmers, experimenting with sifting my own flour (including purchasing some expensive brass test sieves for sifting), keeping starters at different hydrations, different temperatures, and with different types of flour, etc.
Well, that was years ago, and I’d all but left that chapter of my life behind. I think I stopped around the time the kids were born because I don’t really think I had time for it. Not that I necessarily have more time now, but recently, bread has gotten so expensive, and truly gotten enshittified beyond belief, and subject to shrinkflation especially. Have you noticed how small the loaves of sandwich bread have gotten in the store? It’s ridiculous.
All this has really pushed me to dust off the old mill and get a new sourdough starter going. Fortunately, I still have probably 50-100 lbs of white winter wheat in the basement, plus we just bought some King Arthur’s bread flour from Costco, so I guess I’m set for supplies.
I decided to start the new sourdough starter with 100% whole grain freshly milled flour. It really can’t be beat for flavor, but I’ve yet to master baking with it, so we’ll see how this goes. I’m still trying to find the ideal recipe, although I’m leaning towards trying a recipe from theperfectloaf.com, since Maurizio Leo has some recipes and advice tailored specifically to home-milled flour. But, of course, I’ll have to do my own spin on things.
If you’re curious, I recently wrote about Starting a Sourdough Starter, for more advice on getting a starter going. It’s a fun science experiment that leads to good things you can eat, so it’s not bad. I also decided to order some supplies, including a pair of Pullman Loaf pans I’ve been eyeing on Amazon for ages. (Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate). I also ordered a new scale, because my old baking scale bit the dust years ago. I’ll probably post my thoughts on them on here at some point.
There’s something so grounding about baking bread, and mixing it with your hangs. It connects you with the earth, and fire, and food in a a way that nothing else really does. Especially healthy, whole-grain sourdough bread with a long slow ferment time. Bread is so essential to life, like water in a way. Healthy bread like the kind I bake is pure sustenance, full of fiber and B-vitamins, and because of the long ferment it’s easier to digest. I feel terrible for my mom and sister, who are gluten-free. Although my sister has experimented with some success with GF sourdough.
Anyway, I’m putting the cart before the horse here. I need to pull my recipe together and get my new equipment, and then I’ll be ready to bake. Updates to follow.
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