Sam Whitaker · October 15, 2026
Fall sourdough fermentation sits between summer’s heat chaos and winter’s slowness. Adjust your timeline, bulk window, and proofing schedule for 50–65°F…
Sam Whitaker · August 17, 2026The starter I ran my microbakery with for three years didn’t have a name for the first six months. It just sat on the counter in an old pickle jar, getting fed twice a day, completely anonymous. Then one Tuesday a regular customer asked what I called “the thing that makes the bread,” and I … Read more
Sam Whitaker · August 14, 2026
It was a Tuesday afternoon, and I was standing in my HDB kitchen, staring at two small jars like they owed me money. One had wheat flour mixed with water. The other had rice flour mixed with water. Both had been sitting on my counter for 48 hours. Both smelled like sad paste. I had … Read more
Sam Whitaker · August 14, 2026
It was 11pm on a Tuesday, and I was standing in my HDB kitchen staring at a jar of what can only be described as sad, grey, completely lifeless gloop. My third attempt at a sourdough starter in as many weeks. The Singapore heat had either killed it too fast or encouraged the wrong kind … Read more
Sam Whitaker · August 14, 2026
I want to tell you about the time I accidentally started a sourdough experiment that I had absolutely no intention of running. It was a Tuesday morning, I was standing in my HDB kitchen in a sweaty t-shirt, and I had just smugly declared to my husband that my new wet market wild yeast starter … Read more
Sam Whitaker · August 6, 2026
I still remember standing in my kitchen at 6am, bleary-eyed, fully expecting to see a sad, flat, lifeless blob of flour and water in my jar. It was only Day 3 of my very first sourdough starter. I had braced myself for at least another four days of patient waiting, the way every blog post … Read more
Sam Whitaker · August 6, 2026
It was a Tuesday afternoon, and I was standing in my HDB kitchen staring at a jar of what can only be described as sad, grey, watery paste. Day five of my very first sourdough starter attempt. I had followed the instructions from a popular American baking blog to the letter, convinced I was about … Read more
Sam Whitaker · August 1, 2026
Right now I’ve got a bowl of gluey, unfed discard sitting on the counter and absolutely no interest in babysitting a full sourdough timeline today. No overnight bulk rise, no careful shaping — just a fast discard dough, a quick dunk in boiling water, and bite-sized bagels ready in roughly half an hour. My kids … Read more
Sam Whitaker · July 31, 2026
Here’s a claim that surprises people: sourdough dinner rolls don’t have to turn out dense or tight just because they skip commercial yeast — that’s the myth keeping folks loyal to the plastic-bagged rolls from the grocery aisle. Done right, these come out soft, faintly sweet, pillowy enough to pull apart, with a golden crown … Read more
Sam Whitaker · July 30, 2026
Twenty seconds a side in a rolling boil of water and baking soda — that’s the entire technical trick separating a plain twisted breadstick from something that actually tastes like it came from a real bakery counter, and it takes far less effort than you’d guess. For years I made pretzels the standard way, letting … Read more
