Falling in love with sourdough starter

The first time I encountered sourdough, I was in my grandparents' workshop.
We have always called it that: the workshop. In reality, it was never just a simple workshop but a true magical place.

The workshop was the laboratory where my grandfather, a craftsman of chestnut wood, worked and created his baskets, and my grandmother prepared the bread and cared for her sourdough, or as we call it here in Cilento, her criscito madre.
It was right there, in the workshop, while I watched my grandmother and my mother knead the bread, that I fell in love, initially without realizing it, with the slow rhythms of nature and the magic of natural fermentation.

My grandmother always told me that for her, bread represented life, and I must say that as I grew up, I understood more and more what she meant.
Mixing is a bit like creating small dreams, which slowly become big, only if you have managed to blend them well and take care of them.

In ancient times, in the Cilento region and beyond, the “criscito” was carefully kept by the women of the village.
Often, it was one of them who took care of the refreshments and then gifted it every week to the others so they could prepare bread.
When I was little, the moment of bread preparation was a celebration. We would start mixing at night, and it was wonderful to wait for that small great miracle to take shape and give life to incredible steaming loaves.
Thus, more than two years ago, I decided to bring my first sourdough to life, studying and delving into this magical world, day by day.
I have understood how to pamper it best, I dedicated my time to it, with patience and understanding, and I have brought to life a small great creature that gives me incredible satisfaction every day.

What is sourdough

Sourdough, or also known as mother dough, is a mixture made of flour, water, and optionally an activator (honey, sugar, fruit pulp, raisins) that nourishes the yeast and accelerates fermentation. This mixture is left to ferment through lactic acid bacteria and wild yeasts.
Consider that the microflora of sourdough is alive; in fact, within the jar in which we place it, wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria develop.These microorganisms produce organic acids, which significantly affect the flavor, digestibility, and nutritional value of the product made with sourdough.
In order for the activity of the microorganisms to continue, the sourdough needs to be fed.
The operation with which we "feed" our sourdough is called "refreshing" and should be done, when we create it, every day for 14 days, and then approximately once every 4 days.

Each sourdough is unique and contains a specific microbial combination.
When we create our sourdough, we are aware that we will have a completely our own creation, which will be the result of the environment in which the flour is produced, the one in which the yeast will be born and cared for, and our hands.
Each combination of bacteria and yeasts will give rise to different flavors and aromas.

For this reason, recipes with sourdough must always be calibrated according to your needs, taking into account the strength of the yeast, the temperature, the flour used to create it, and other factors.
I know this may scare you, but it is not as difficult as it seems.
It just takes patience, love, and a bit of practice.
After a while, you will start to get to know your yeast and give it the attention it needs, in the right way.

Sourdough or brewer's yeast?

The substantial difference between a product made with brewer's yeast and one made with sourdough is the composition of the yeast and the fermentation times.
In the first case, the only microorganism responsible for fermentation is the yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, while in the case of products made with sourdough, a complex microflora, rich in wild yeasts and bacterial colonies, triggers the process.
Wild yeasts and bacteria collaborate and coexist happily within the sourdough.
In fact, they share the available nutrients in the flour.

Why are products made with sourdough more digestible?

Thanks to lactic acid bacteria, there is an increase in acidity in the dough, one of the main reasons why products made with sourdough are more nutritious and digestible.Indeed, in the slowly fermented sourdough, there are bacteria and yeasts in a ratio of 100 to 1.
The bacteria are also responsible for the production of exopolysaccharides, a viscous substance in which they love to live. This substance provides nourishment to the intestinal flora and gives an ideal consistency to the products.

We find our slow times again

Bringing your sourdough to life is a bit like reconnecting with our origins and our land.
Caring for the sourdough teaches us to respect the "times," to know how to wait, to live the wait, without impatience, aware of the final result.
I know it sounds incredible, but this living and magical creature also teaches us to understand ourselves and to love ourselves, because through its growth and daily rituals, it manages to surprise us and make us realize how important it is to be ourselves and to express all the love we have inside.

To make sourdough starter, we need flour, water, honey (optional), a glass jar, a cloth, and a cheesecloth (or plastic wrap). We will need to refresh it for 14 days, every 24 hours, after which it will be ready for storage in the fridge and for refreshment every 4-5 days.
Once we have created our sourdough starter, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to abandon it.