Just got back from a sourdough starter hunt in San Francisco

I visited bakeries there that keep starters for decades, and some say traveling to see these is key, but others think you can grow a great one at home. What's your view, do you need to travel to get real fermentation wisdom or can local resources do the trick?

3 comments

3 Comments

jasongreen1mo ago

My own starter came from flour and water in my kitchen years ago and it's fantastic. The local yeast and bacteria in your area make it unique, which is kinda the whole point. Traveling is cool for the experience but not needed for a great starter. Just consistent care and decent flour does the trick.

ryanh561mo ago

Isn't it wild how much people overthink this? My starter is just flour, water, and whatever was floating around my apartment too. It makes great bread and has its own weird personality. The whole travel thing seems like a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist for most of us. I get the romantic idea, but my lazy kitchen counter method works fine.

felix1471mo ago

Maybe the real value in traveling is seeing how bakers in different climates adapt their care. A San Francisco starter lives in a specific fog and temperature that changes how you feed it, which you can't learn from a bag of flour at home. That kind of hands-on wisdom about environment is what a local jar might miss.