Prairie Foodie

Well “hello world”,

Remember 2020? I know that question is painful for some of us who still feel the unprecedented times looming over them like the smell of hand sanitizer. We were all obsessed with hoarding TP, 6 ft distances, bubbles and cohorts and sourdough. Sourdough bread starter and sourdough bread and sourdough discard took over timelines faster than an outbreak could spread. Kitchens across North America now full of flour fermenting, bubbling and creating all sorts of alchemy. Some of it welcome, some of it something straight out of a Lovecraftian tale of the old ones. What a time to be alive.. It feels like decades ago.

Well, I missed that boat back to the kitchen. I was *cough* too cool. And by too cool, I meant I was putting way too much time into an office job that didn’t allow for much downtime, or time for me to engage in cooking outside of the functional necessity. Not the love of the process and product. It left me feeling functional, but certainly not funky or fresh. Fergie would not approve.

Well, now in 2026 I find myself tending a starter. I’ve named her Goldie. Unoriginal, as I’ve decided to *baby* her with her own personal vivarium. Courtesy of Sourhouse, the vivarium is also named Goldie as it keeps your starter in the ideal Goldilocks zone (25C to 28C) and uses temperature sensing tech to adjust the temp inside the vivarium based on the temperature OF your starter. If you use water slightly too warm, she’ll tell you its too hot and the auto-heat will kick off until she’s reached ambient temp and can run again. If your water is too cold, she’ll give you the blue lights and kick on the auto-heat function to adjust the difference. Your starter will always be happy, and ready to use at a moments notice provided you keep up with your feeding schedule.

What struck me early on was how this mixture of water and flour felt like an organism when I got a little on my finger. Warm, almost effervescent. Yeast, alive and active just under my fingertips. The life in it recognized the life in me, and being very real for a moment I haven’t really felt like there was a lot of life in me these days to recognize. Tending to her has become part of my day like I’m saying hello to a neighbour friend. I speak love into her when I work with her, and relish every time I get to become part of the yeast through touch. I wonder how, in time this TLC will impact taste as time goes on. I’ve made only a couple of things with her but have really enjoyed what I’ve learned about the process of sourdough and bread-making so far. Discard cinnamon rolls (Solid 7/10) and two loaves of bread (Also a solid 7 – I modded the recipe I used to include more whole wheat flour, and as such had to increase hydration.. For this being my first attempt, I’m genuinely happy with the result. Crumb was a little spongey and it didn’t rise as much as I had thought it would. However when pan toasted this bread made me weep a little).

Bread making I’m also finding is a lovely headspace. By that, I mean its an arena to trust the mess in the process. To be uncertain about something even for a few hours. To sit with that uncertainty, discomfort, the sticky ball of flour somehow transforming itself into a workable boule with a little time to rest in between. And maybe that’s how we all become a little more Fergalicious,too ; giving ourselves the time to rest between each step of this whole process rather than overworking ourselves at every turn.

Make them boys go loco,

Xox