Sourdough Sketching

Taking a “garbage in, garbage out” lesson from my sourdough starter.

Fresh Bread Day is our favorite day. When the oven timer goes off, our house echoes with shouts of “Bread’s ready!!! Fresh bread!!!! Can I have some now, please!!!?”. After an impatient hour of letting the bread cool, we gather in the kitchen and I cut thick slices of warm, soft bread for us to spread with butter. Nothing compares to that first fresh bread and butter slice.

Aftermath: half eaten loaf and the plate of butter

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To be honest, I am not inclined to baking. I don’t enjoy it, not even a little.¹ I don’t like that I can’t wing it; baking requires precision and following the directions. It’s also not worth my time to make a mess in the kitchen for a food that’s neither nourishing nor necessary. The work is simply not worth the reward.

But bread is different. Bread is nourishment, especially sourdough. Bread is a staple, bread is sustaining, bread is comforting. Three ingredients (flour, water, and salt) plus a little patience and good timing will give you a lovely, rustic sourdough bread.

This loaf has honey and olive oil added to the basic ingredients of water, salt, and flour.

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But back to my starter. My sourdough starter was a generous gift from a neighbor several years ago. It’s been through a lot—including a level of neglect that should have killed it when we moved last year. Incredibly, it roared back to life after consuming its usual fare of wheat flour two or three times.

Using a flour like wheat or rye to feed a starter is best because those contain more nutrients than All Purpose flour; making your starter stronger, more active, and more potent. Wild yeast from the environment of the starter and from the bread maker’s hands become incorporated into the starter, making each starter unique and with its own flavor profile.

Glass bowl of starter on the rise. Basically, you feed it, it grows, and then you can make bread or give a portion to a friend like my neighbor did.

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I got to thinking this week that we should care for ourselves like we would a sourdough starter. We are uniquely the products of our environment and what we feed our minds and bodies.  We can feed our souls the good stuff and grow big enough to give a boost of love and goodwill to those around us. If we don’t nourish and feed our souls, we sit stagnant and growth is not possible until we stop neglecting the part of us that craves goodness and beauty.

The goodness and beauty taking place here today is our art class. On the menu we have William Blake, John Constable, and JMW Turner. A quick peek at other romantic landscape artists Friedrich and Delacroix, too, if we can squeeze them in. Afterwards we’ll work on our drawing skills together. Here’s a drawing in marker I made several weeks ago with the kids; they wanted to draw our loaf of bread:

Bonus loaf of bread

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Thank you for reading and generously giving time and inbox space to my sketches and scribbles— the practices that sustain and nourish me. The weekend is upon us, I hope you have time for rest and the things and people you love.

Jenn

1. I mean baking in the sense of making cakes, cookies, etc. I do like to cook though. I cook dinner for my family most nights. And I make baking exceptions on birthdays and holidays where the baking has a good purpose!