I grew up on sourdough. Living near San Francisco meant a reliable supply of sourdough was always available. Boules, baguettes, batards, the occasional sandwich loaf—we had it all. And it was delicious.
Two months after our daughter was born I started developing my own sourdough starter. It was a process, rife with trial and error. But with a little persistence it paid off.
If you're interested in going down this road yourself, check out The Perfect Loaf.
After seven days of work, and one sub-par early attempt at a loaf, I had my starter. And I named it Fred.
Fred has now been with us since February 25th, 2020, and with luck will be with us for a long while. We've baked a lot of bread already, and a few fun little projects here and there like cinnamon buns and babkas. Here is a collection of shots from along the way.