I want to tell you about the time I accidentally made the most beautiful loaf of my entire baking life while trying to hide evidence of a mistake from my husband. It started with a mislabeled bag, a moment of panic, and a desperate Google search at 11pm. And somewhere in the middle of that … Read more
I want to tell you about the morning I stood in my kitchen, staring at two sourdough loaves like a disappointed parent at a science fair, wondering why on earth I had just spent six weeks obsessively testing water quality sourdough filtered vs tap when both loaves looked… completely fine. Not revelatory. Not catastrophic. Just … Read more
I want to tell you about the time I confidently ordered what I thought was “fancy bread flour” online, proceeded to bake four increasingly dense and confusing loaves over two weekends, and only realized my mistake when my neighbor — who was just being polite about the bread, bless her — asked why my sourdough … Read more
It was 6:47 on a Tuesday morning, and I was standing in my kitchen staring at what can only be described as a puddle. Not bread dough. A puddle. The kind of thing that spreads slowly across your countertop with the quiet confidence of something that has absolutely no intention of holding a shape. I … Read more
I still remember standing at my kitchen counter, staring at what could only be described as a very expensive, very heavy doorstop. It was a Tuesday evening, the house smelled amazing, and I had just unmolded my very first spelt sourdough bread onto the cooling rack. It thudded. Like, actually thudded. My husband wandered in … Read more
I’ll never forget the first time I tried to fold a handful of everything bagel seasoning into my sourdough dough during bulk fermentation. I was so excited about the idea — and so completely unprepared for the chaos that followed. Seeds everywhere, dough tearing, and a loaf that came out looking like it had survived … Read more
I still remember the afternoon I pulled what I thought would be my best loaf ever out of the oven — only to find a dense, gummy crumb that stuck to the knife like wet clay. I had followed the recipe perfectly, or so I thought. Turns out, I had bumped up the water without … Read more
I still remember the loaf that finally made me understand the salt in sourdough bread importance in a way no recipe ever spelled out for me. I was rushing through a bake, distracted by a podcast, and I simply forgot to add the salt. The dough felt fine during bulk fermentation — maybe even a … Read more
I still remember the afternoon I accidentally grabbed the wrong bag of flour. I’d meant to scoop from my all-purpose container, but instead I dumped a hefty portion of rye into my starter feeding. Within hours, that jar was alive in a way I’d never seen before — bubbling furiously, nearly crawling out from under … Read more
I still remember the loaf that made me obsessed with flour. It was a Tuesday evening, I had my starter bubbling beautifully on the counter, and I grabbed whatever flour was closest in the pantry — a half-empty bag of all-purpose I usually reserved for pancakes. The dough felt slack and strange. The final loaf … Read more
