Sourdough starter creation, maintenance, and troubleshooting
Sam Whitaker · December 22, 2025
Here’s a claim that trips up most people new to sourdough: refrigeration doesn’t pause fermentation, it just changes what kind of fermentation you’re getting. I used to believe the fridge was basically a “hold” button — a place to park dough when life got in the way of baking on schedule. Then one Tuesday night, … Read more
Sam Whitaker · December 21, 2025
Two tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of water, mixed into a jar and left to sit for eight hours ��� that’s roughly what one single feeding of starter produces in leftover, unfed discard, and multiply that across a week of feedings and you’re staring at a genuinely surprising pile of “waste” building up in … Read more
Sam Whitaker · December 19, 2025
Does a sunk spoonful of starter mean your fermentation is broken? Nine times out of ten, no — and that’s worth saying plainly before we dive into the weeds. Years back I hovered over my kitchen sink with a small dollop of starter suspended in a glass of water, treating the outcome like it would … Read more
Sam Whitaker · December 18, 2025
Three winters back, on a Tuesday evening after weeks of half-attention, I popped the lid off my starter jar expecting the usual bubbly greeting. Instead — nothing. No dome, no rise, not a single bubble breaking the surface. Just a slack, disappointing slurry of flour and water giving off a sharp whiff of nail polish … Read more
Sam Whitaker · December 17, 2025
Scroll through enough recipe blogs and you’ll run into two completely contradictory pieces of advice on the same topic: one camp swears you need a splash of pineapple juice or a few crushed grapes to “jumpstart” a starter, while another insists plain flour and water is all you’ll ever need. The pineapple-juice crowd is wrong … Read more
Sam Whitaker · December 1, 2025
Quick Links: Jump to What You Need Starter Condition Sign to Look For Action Salvageable (Dormant) Dark film (hooch) on top Drain dark liquid, proceed with revival Salvageable (Dormant) Sharp acetone or vinegar smell Continue with 1:1:1 feeding cycle Salvageable (Dormant) Flat after time in fridge Warm to room temp, feed every 12 hours Discard … Read more
Sam Whitaker · November 30, 2025
Most of what Australians call “sourdough” at the supermarket isn’t sourdough at all. It’s a regular yeasted loaf with vinegar or citric acid added for tang, sold under a name that implies slow fermentation nobody actually did. I started testing loaves after a reader sent me photos of a “sourdough” ingredient list with baker’s yeast … Read more
Sam Whitaker · November 28, 2025
Eight hours. Sometimes twenty-four. That’s the fermentation window a properly made French sourdough loaf sits through before it ever sees an oven—a stretch of time that would strike most modern shoppers as absurd for something as ordinary as bread. Yet that patience is exactly why the crust shatters the way it does, why the crumb … Read more
Sam Whitaker · November 24, 2025
Most home bakers stick to the same five flavor combos: rosemary, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, everything bagel seasoning, and maybe some herbs de Provence if they’re feeling adventurous. Nothing wrong with that—those pairings work. But after 11 years of baking and three years running my microbakery, I’ve learned that sourdough’s complex, slightly tangy crumb is genuinely … Read more
Sam Whitaker · November 23, 2025
Introduction: A Jar of Flour and Water Carries More Than Bubbles We went through a stretch last February where the furnace was running nonstop and the air in my kitchen dropped to something like 20% humidity. My usual starter, the one I’ve fed for over a decade, barely blinked. But a rye culture a reader … Read more
