second nature

About a year and a half ago, I texted a friend for some sourdough starter and later that week made my first couple of loaves. Early on, I actually had loaves that turned out pretty good, and so I have to admit there were times when I wondered how this was such a difficult art. But it must have been just chance, because then I had about a year of many flops and not many successes, and a few months where I shut down the operation altogether. Overall sourdough wasn't working into our lifestyle and something wasn't clicking for me. Off and on I would run across a video or a tidbit of information about people's sourdough processes and it would kind of fill in some gaps for me and I'd store it in the back of my brain for another time.

This winter I pulled it out again and began practicing more regularly and applying some of the things I had learned, taking actual pen-and-paper notes of what I did and what I didn't do and what worked and what didn't. I texted pictures back and forth with my sister-in-law sometimes, we'd add things that we had learned or picked up, and suddenly one day I realized I had a solid recipe and a solid process. I knew how it worked for me to make it. I had finally reached a point where I could consistently turn out a loaf that looked and tasted like what I wanted it to.

As I mixed up some dough this morning for bread to take to potluck tomorrow night, I realized that it's one thing to be able to occasionally get something to turn out, and it's an entirely different thing for it to become second nature. And the second nature stage requires a lot of trial and error, a lot of practice, and a lot of flops. I love that I have arrived at a place where I'm relatively confident I'll have loaves that turn out tomorrow morning when I bake them, and won't have to pivot to a different plan tomorrow afternoon to have something to take to potluck. It is so efficient and exciting when something works and you can do it well each time. But I arrived here with a trail of wasted ingredients and over the course of a lot of time.

We are working through a job transition where Grant's new job with HarvestCall necessitates travel. It has been an overall murky transition - not just the travel part but just trying to wrap up his previous work and start the new responsibilities. We have the occasional day where we are like - this worked! We can see this working for our family! And then I realize that that was just that one day and that it is not second nature yet for us -- this job routine and lifestyle is still very much like trying to bake those early loaves of sourdough bread. Might work, might not. If it doesn't work, I'm not entirely sure what went wrong. If it does work, I'm not entirely sure what went right.

It's going to take practice to get it right every time. And there are still going to be times where we won't get it right, even when we've learned how. There are so many factors, so many variables... this is just how life is. But practicing and intentionally thinking about what is working and what is not, and what the mix needs more of and less of, will not be a wasted investment of time or resources. Sometimes the mistakes feel like a waste -- but they are anything but that. They are how we got here.

As a side note -- part of the dance of the sourdough process is learning how to properly and efficiently use your discard. There are oodles of recipes out there and I'm for sure late to the party, but one that I am using all the time right now is this one. I got it from a friend, and I've passed it on to several other friends who asked for it recently, and it makes such good pizza crust and stromboli dough. I also think it would work really well for breadsticks. I made some crusts with it the other day and pre-baked them and then froze them to be able to pull out of the freezer and quick add toppings to make a pizza and I made one on Friday night and it was almost as fast as frozen pizza to prep. So I realize this is not my typical content but just sharing it here anyway because it's been really making my kitchen a happier place lately.

4 cups Flour

1 cup Sourdough Discard

1 teaspoon Instant Yeast

1 ½ cups Warm Water

2 teaspoon Salt

In a small bowl, add the water and top with the teaspoon of instant yeast. Set that aside and let it sit for 5 minutes. The yeast should be frothy when you add it to the flour.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add both the flours and the salt. Mix that around for a few seconds to combine the ingredients.

Add the yeast and water to the mixture. Add the starter. Turn the mixer on low and mix everything for 5 minutes until a cohesive ball forms and there is no flour left on the bottom of the stand mixer.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let that rise for 3-4 hours at room temperature. It should double in size.

When it has risen, separate the dough into two balls. Lightly flour your surface and roll the dough out into the thickness you prefer for pizza. Add the toppings of your choice and bake at 425 degrees for at least 20 minutes.