Day 1 out of 40

I woke up in the middle of the night and my dream told me that I could stretch time with 1/2 cup of sourdough. I do have a sourdough starter and we bake together every week. Her name is “Mother.”

I have been thinking a lot about time. Mostly how it speeds up and we find ourselves with feelings of having less of it, wasting it, not making the most of it… Maybe it is because I am getting older, my brain is getting older. Maybe I move from one task to the next, carrying along lists and the weight of everything I see on my screens throughout the day. But then I look over my kitchen counter and I have a fed starter that is bubbly and ready to bake. Something. Anything. Ready to play, we grab some flour and some fat and we create.

When I am baking with sourdough, I feel a sense that I am not just baking, but harvesting an abundance of time I did not think I had. My sourdough starter — the microbial community of yeast and bacterial I am working with has helped me #rethinkingperfect and I am attempting to rethink time. My sourdough cup is half full. It is part of my daily practice. It feeds my family, my community, my art, along with prayer, walks, photography and all the things that gives me hope and joy.

I will post daily here, maybe we will get to 40 days, if you would like to join us, I will post recipes or more like cooking and baking notes as we go.

Whole Rye Sourdough Scones made for a friend and her family.

Whole Rye Sourdough Scones by Ellie Markovitch

1 3/4 cup of whole rye meal

1 tbsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp of salt

4 tbsp of raw sugar

5 tbsp of butter

3/4 cup of sourdough starter

2 tbsp of milk kefir (can use buttermilk or yogurt with a bit of water)

1/2 cup of fruit I used Maine frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 450F

Mix the first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture to pea size. Mix milk kefir and sourdough starter and add to the bowl. Add the fruit and mix until it comes together. I bring everything into a flat circle, cut into 8 triangles. Lower the oven to 400F and bake for 15 minutes or til golden edges.