Around three o’clock at the 2025 Rockmart Homespun Festival we had already sold out. We had nothing left on the table but a QR code for our instagram. About that time, we saw a young lady make a bee-line for us with two kids in tow. She asked us, “What suggestions do you have for working with sourdough?” I could tell from the kids’ reactions that she had not had the greatest success. What I said to her next didn’t really surprise her as much as it made the kids laugh with a sense of reality. “Get used to failure.”
I said it with so little hesitation I surprised myself. My kid, partner, fellow-baker, and young lady in her own right, laughed and said, “yeah, that’s about right.” My daughter dove into making French macarons and sourdough croissants at an early age—to say she knows failure is an understatement.
I proceeded to ramble on with my usual quasi-informed prattle about how easy sourdough is once you get used to it. I eventually demonstrated how to bring structure and surface tension back into the dough when you are pre-shaping using a dishtowel. Even her kids lit up with understanding during this feeble attempt to explain how it works. They immediately scanned the QR code to follow us on Instagram. I told all of them to send us questions if they had any. Then, we wished them good luck on trying it again. We hope she left with a little renewed confidence and a slightly brighter outlook on sourdough.
Sourdough is not just something that is good for your gut health. It is a bit of a challenge that you can take on, fail at, and easily try again. Once you successfully get that first loaf to rise, it will go straight to your head. You start making tons of bread and following all the sourdough shaping posts, futilely arguing with British Bake-off contestants, and realizing social media is the worst place to get advice. The next thing you know, you’ve made a few bad decisions, started your own sourdough cottage food operation, and writing to relieve the stress of being a small business owner.
We look forward to seeing you at the next event֫—even if it is just to watch me throw a dishtowel around like an idiot claiming to know the value of surface tension..