Sam Whitaker

Sam Whitaker has been baking sourdough for over a decade from a home kitchen in the Pacific Northwest. Sam's four-year-old starter, Harold, is the foundation for every recipe and troubleshooting guide on Sourdough Rising — no commercial ovens or professional training, just real bread tested over and over until it works.

High-Hydration Sourdough: Getting That Open, Lacey Crumb at Home (Without a Professional Oven)

· March 5, 2026
High-Hydration Sourdough: Getting That Open, Lacey Crumb at Home (Without a Professional Oven)

Open, lacey crumb has a reputation for needing a professional deck oven to pull off at home. It doesn’t — it needs correct hydration, real steam, and a dough you haven’t over-handled. Why High Hydration Dough Is So Frustrating Dough above 80% hydration is genuinely sticky and hard to shape without experience. It spreads instead … Read more

Malted Barley Flour in Sourdough: The Secret Ingredient That Changes Everything About Your Crust

· March 2, 2026
Malted Barley Flour in Sourdough: The Secret Ingredient That Changes Everything About Your Crust

Three winters back, I nearly wrecked a batch of dough late one evening while trying to cover up a kitchen blunder before my husband got home and asked what that smell was. The whole mess started with an unmarked jar, a flash of panic, and a frantic search through baking forums well past midnight. Somewhere … Read more

Does Water Quality Actually Affect Sourdough? I Ran a 6-Week Filtered vs Tap Test

· March 1, 2026
Does Water Quality Actually Affect Sourdough? I Ran a 6-Week Filtered vs Tap Test

Two loaves of sourdough, baked from the same dough on the same day, don’t lie — even when the internet insists they should. Half of what you’ll read about sourdough water treats plain tap water like a silent starter-killer, and the other half insists filtration is a gimmick nobody actually needs. The first camp gets … Read more

High-Extraction Flour for Sourdough: What It Is, Why Serious Bakers Love It, and Where to Find It

· February 27, 2026
High-Extraction Flour for Sourdough: What It Is, Why Serious Bakers Love It, and Where to Find It

A brutal cold snap rolled through the week I’d confidently ordered what I assumed was some kind of “upgraded” bread flour online, and the dry, static-charged air in my kitchen turned my first four loaves — baked over two increasingly frustrating weekends — into something closer to dense crackers than actual bread. It wasn’t until … Read more

Einkorn Sourdough: The Heritage Grain That Behaves Like a Toddler (Lovably Unpredictable)

· February 26, 2026
Einkorn Sourdough: The Heritage Grain That Behaves Like a Toddler (Lovably Unpredictable)

No recipe card ever bothers to mention this part: the exact moment einkorn flour turns your dough into something that looks suspiciously like pancake batter. That’s precisely what greeted me one ordinary weekday morning — a puddle spreading lazily across my countertop, showing zero intention of holding any shape at all. I’d followed my usual … Read more

My Sourdough Tastes Too Bland: 6 Ways I Finally Got That Complex, Tangy Flavor

· February 23, 2026
My Sourdough Tastes Too Bland: 6 Ways I Finally Got That Complex, Tangy Flavor

Nearly every home baker assumes that if the crust shatters correctly and the crumb opens up nice and lacy, the taste will simply take care of itself — that a loaf which looks incredible must also taste incredible. I believed exactly that, right up until one Sunday afternoon when I sliced into a round I … Read more

Sourdough Crust Goes Soft After Cooling: Why This Happens and How to Keep That Crunch

· February 22, 2026
Sourdough Crust Goes Soft After Cooling: Why This Happens and How to Keep That Crunch

My oven is a secondhand Wolf range with a cast-iron combo cooker I’ve used for years, and there’s one particular spot on my counter — right under the window, just past the coffee maker — where I always land a loaf fresh out of the pot. One Sunday afternoon, I pulled a boule out of … Read more