In 2024, my word of the year was nourish. Yes, like eating. But it was different than that. The goal was to focus on things that ‘fed’ me in every sense of the word. Silly, maybe. But I believe the practice of a WOTY is so deeply personal and unique. So naturally, I learned how to make sourdough bread.
Riding the overwhelming enthusiasm of a new word of the year and the desire to perfect a new hobby, while my husband was TDY for a month in January 2024, I learned sourdough.
I know, I know—I’m late to the trend. Everyone did sourdough during the pandemic. However, I was a little busy in 2020. I was juggling a pandemic PCS, buying a house without actually seeing it first, my husband gone frequently for trainings… oh, and a newborn. I had no time to babysit a starter or tamper with bread dough. So I thought, why not? I’ll hurl myself into my new WOTY in this very literal sense. I’ll learn how to slow down (*laughs in Enneagram Type 1*).
Plot twist…sourdough is more difficult than it looks. Not impossible, like the internet makes it seem. But something that takes time, patience, and lots of trial and error. Sourdough is one of those things you have to eventually just stop researching and reading about and just…do. So when my husband was gone for a month, I just did it.
And the process immediately humbled me.
Each flat, ugly, bland, non-Pinterest-looking loaf was humbling and frustrating. But after a few loaves, I fell into the repetitive actions. The process became almost meditative and calming. I stopped fixating on the recipes and did what they all say, “learn the dough.” Now, if you’re rolling your eyes, thinking that bread-making could be meditative or calming, hear me out.
As someone who rushes most everything, who often speeds through tasks to check them off and get them done as quickly and effectively as possible, sourdough is cathartic. It quite literally forces you to slow down. Making sourdough allows you to repeat steps until they become second nature. It’s not a quick process either. From start to finish, a loaf of sourdough can take well over 24 hours. And much of that is some aspect of the bread doing its thing totally without you.
So it’s safe to say that you can’t exactly rush the sourdough process if you want it done well.
And as cliche as it sounds, you can’t rush growing yourself either – no matter your age or stage of life.
That things like sourdough and slowing down are learned over time, through the mess and the impatience, the lessons and the trials.
Want to tackle your own personal growth… I mean, sourdough journey?
Here’s the super simple, straightforward recipe I started with!
