Sourdoughgan

She’s not perfect, but she’s mine.

Perhaps it’s quarantine that leads me to anthropomorphize sourdough starter. Besides myself and my plants, she’s the only other life in this apartment. Much like 5 out of 6 office plants that I rescued (RIP leafy vine plant that I never properly identified), she is thriving under quarantine conditions.

It didn’t start this way. Sourdoughgan (I love a good portmanteau) began under less than ideal conditions. Some were outside my control. First, Boston’s water supply is treated with chloramine which is beneficial for public health but detrimental to wild yeast.* Second, the flour supply chain had not yet caught up with coronavirus demand and I had limited quantities of all purpose flour. Lastly - and this was non-negotiable - Sourdoughgan was going to have to make her way up in this world at a cool temperature. I may indulge some peculiarities when it comes to baking, but running up my gas bill for a sourdough starter is not one of them.

Nevertheless, she persisted. The moment I knew I loved her was when she rejected the fancier wheat and rye flours I tried to feed her. She’s a simple starter, with simple wants and needs. A real salt-of-the-earth starter. The kind of starter you’d like to have the proverbial beer with. A starter’s starter.

Then March turned to April, the weather got warmer, and Sourdoughgan really hit her stride. She even moved into a very nice ceramic crock made especially for sourdough starters (thank you to my sister-in-law). Now she’s the kind of starter that has you over and uses the nice wine glasses at the kitchen counter. This intoxicating mix of class and comfort makes you divulge all your secrets. Don’t worry, she’ll keep them.

Still, no one is perfect. Her pizza dough and waffles are superb, but her signature sourdough loaf remains a work in progress. She can’t make it too easy. There’s probably some meditation here on returning to your purpose day-in and day-out, but Sourdoughgan doesn’t meditate. She tried it once and found it anathema to her natural state of agitation.

But we’ll continue to try. Because if there’s one thing Sourdoughgan can’t help but pursue, it’s personal growth.

*I’m now calling bullshit on the chloramine thing, as subsequent feedings with plain old tap water have worked out just fine. But at the time, chloramine was chief among a number of unknowns.

Sourdoughgan is largely based on the starter recipe from King Arthur Flour, but there were some twists and turns along the way. Make it your own!