Old baker at the county fair showed me a trick I still use

I was at the Iowa State Fair back in 2018 and watched this older guy win a blue ribbon for his sourdough. He must have been 70 years old, and after the judging, I asked him what his secret was. He just laughed and said 'stop fighting your starter, let it tell you when it's ready.' That stuck with me way more than any recipe book ever did. Last week I finally got my own sourdough to turn out right after 11 tries just by waiting an extra hour on a cold day. Has anyone else had a random stranger give you baking advice that actually worked?

3 comments

3 Comments

davis.ruby7d ago

Hold up, wait. Did you say ELEVEN tries? Because that's dedication right there. I would have given up after three or four, max. That's seriously impressive. The "stop fighting your starter" thing hits home. I had a similar moment with pie crust from an old lady at a church potluck. She said "cold hands, warm heart, and don't you dare overwork the dough." Sounds silly but it's the only thing that fixed my soggy crusts. Funny how random advice from strangers sticks better than anything you read online. Maybe because they aren't trying to sell you anything or sound fancy. They just know what works. Glad you kept at it. Homemade sourdough is a whole different level of good.

garcia.tyler7d ago

Wait, has anyone else ever gotten random cooking advice from somebody's grandma at a funeral potluck? I swear, I learned more about biscuit making from a woman named Pearl at a wake than from any cookbook I've ever owned.

dakota_patel987d ago

My buddy Mike went through something similar with his pizza dough. He tried like eight different recipes and they all came out like cardboard. Then he's at this random farmers market booth and the old guy selling peppers just goes "your dough is tired, let it rest longer." Mike thought it was nonsense but tried it, and suddenly his crust was actually good. It's wild how some random stranger's two second comment can stick in your brain and fix everything.