Making a sourdough starter from scratch is a little like having a baby

After getting off to a rough start(er), my artisanal baking journey finally has a happy ending

28 July 2021 - 15:16 By sanet oberholzer
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Meat the Mother's signature 'Meisie' sourdough.
Meat the Mother's signature 'Meisie' sourdough.
Image: Supplied

I’ll admit: I’m a little late to the party. When everyone was making sourdough starters and baking up loaf upon loaf of bread during the country's initial hard lockdown, I was happy to spend my time sticking to simpler baking basics. That is, until I stumbled upon Meat the Mother.

Maryke Burger has been baking sourdough bread since 2014 after she completed a sourdough workshop on a trip to New York with professional baker and cookbook author Melissa Weller.

During lockdown she started trading her golden brown loaves for the odd bottle of wine – a clever bartering technique given the time that goes into producing a single loaf. Eventually, she realised she needed a platform on which to start selling her bread and Meat the Mother was born.

“Mother” refers to Burger's sourdough starter, or her “mother load”, as she calls it: a fermented dough full of wild yeast that's used as a raising agent and also gives the bread its characteristic sour tang.

“Meat” is inspired by the handpicked, ethically farmed meat cuts she sources from farmers around Gauteng and the Free State and sells on her website with a variety of carefully curated, artisanal produce.

LEARNING THE BASICS

Given the interest she received in baking sourdough, apart from sourcing the products, baking the bread and delivering most orders herself, Burger decided to start hosting sourdough workshops in Joburg once a month.

A sucker for an artisanal class, but mostly hooked on the idea of learning to bake my own bread with good-quality, stone-ground flour and the knowledge of what has – and hasn’t – been added to the mix, I joined a group of 10 participants.

The workshop is not a hands-on experience, so do not expect to go home with freshly baked sourdough bread. Because it takes time to bake a single loaf and develop that sourdough flavour (a process that happens over 24 hours or more), you spend the morning covering the basics of sourdough to equip you with the knowledge to get started in your own kitchen.

By way of a demonstration, Burger also shows you how to mix the dough, turn your dough, shape, proof, score and, finally, bake.

Of course, the true test lies in whether you can take this knowledge and turn it into your own sourdough loaves.

OFF TO A ROUGH START(ER)

Ambitious as I am, I decided to cultivate my own sourdough starter rather than activating the dried starter Burger gave me at the end of her workshop. To do so, I mixed equal parts flour, water and a teaspoon of honey.

My first attempt more than doubled in size by day two. I was ecstatic. But the next day, it was flat again – and remained that way. “Perhaps you had killed it,” someone said. I had placed it in the sun to speed up the process – maybe that was too hot, I thought. As I was going to be travelling soon, I ditched it.

My second starter performed exactly the same: rising on the third day and then falling flat the next. But a few tiny bubbles on the surface – an indication that there is something happening – made me decide to stick with it.

The author's fully-developed sourdough starter or, as her husband jokingly calls it, 'the baby'.
The author's fully-developed sourdough starter or, as her husband jokingly calls it, 'the baby'.
Image: Sanet Oberholzer

Following Burger’s advice, I placed it on a windowsill every day to catch some sun, as my house is very cold in winter. It also turns out, yeast dies at 60°C.

I fed it with equal parts flour and water every day, twice a day, for more than two weeks but nothing happened.

I had to travel again but my husband, who had started referring to my starter as “the baby”, refused to take responsibility for it while I was gone, lest he kill it.

So I was left with no choice but to pack a bag of flour, my electric scale, bottled water, a spatula and my jar of sourdough starter and take it on a road trip from the Highveld to Cape St Francis.

Along the way I spent the night in Bethulie on the edge of the Gariep Dam. It was so cold, I was scared my starter would die. 

After arriving at the coast, I started using warm water when I fed it once a day. Eventually – three weeks after first starting out – it rose ever so slightly.

My excitement was so immense that I decided to take it with me on the flight home. My mother waited around at the airport after dropping me off to make sure I was allowed onto the flight with my wrapped-up jar of sourdough starter. Luckily, we both made it home.

It was four weeks after I started out before it doubled in size and I could use it to bake with. By the time it was ready to use, it was light and bubbly and had developed a beautiful, fruity aroma, much like the smell of rosé wine. Simply gorgeous.

THE FIRST BAKE

My first bake was slightly stressful. My dough was not very firm and it was one of the coldest days of the year, which meant the entire process, from starting out to placing my dough in the fridge for the final proof overnight, took about nine hours.

But in the end, I was able to bake two loaves the next afternoon. I don’t have a cast iron pot – as the more seasoned bakers do – so used an uncovered enamel pot for one loaf and baked the other flat in the oven. It lost its shape somewhat but both baked fine and had little bubbles protruding from the caramelised crust. In the end, they turned out rather delicious and I couldn’t wait to bake again.

The author's first two freshly-baked loaves of sourdough - the one on the right was baked in a pot.
The author's first two freshly-baked loaves of sourdough - the one on the right was baked in a pot.
Image: Sanet Oberholzer

Burger’s class is a great starting point for beginners and she’s willing to offer advice when you get stuck. But be warned: you need to be willing to put in the work and exercise patience once you start off at home, as baking sourdough is truly an art.

I have watched plenty of sourdough videos and read up whenever I have questions. In doing so, I’ve discovered that the initial rise in my sourdough starter was due to a strain of bacteria that can sometimes masquerade as yeast in the beginning stages of a sourdough starter.

My starter is now healthy and resilient which means I can try out different ratios and flours in my daily feedings. As for my loaves, I will continue to bake. They taste delicious and, with a bit of practice, will hopefully start looking bakery-worthy too. For now, I feel like a proud mama and that’s enough.

BOOK A SOURDOUGH WORKSHOP

Burger runs her Joburg-based sourdough workshops on the first Saturday of the month. They cater to any level of experience and spaces are limited. They last about five hours and costs R750 a person, including a coffee tasting with Tall Pete Coffee, snacks and a delicious lunch. You’ll also receive a set of notes and a dried out sourdough starter. Visit meat-themother.co.za

• Oberholzer was a guest of Meat the Mother.


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