Sometime in April, my husband mentioned he would love it if we could start making homemade bread. He works a lot and I’m home all of the time so I decided it’d be best if I tackle that job, plus his birthday was coming up. What a great birthday surprise it would be if I could prepare a loaf of fresh bread! I decided I would learn the art of sourdough and now here I am sharing my beginner sourdough journey.

The first thing you need to know about sourdough is that it’s a process. Like, every bit of it. There is the process of actually starting your sourdough and then there is the process of feeding it regularly to keep it thriving. Finally, there’s the process of waiting for your dough to rise every time you want to make bread. But it’s so worth it!

The Starter

A beginner’s journey to sourdough begins with the starter. You have a couple of options. You can buy one online or see if you have a friend that will part with some of theirs. The benefit to this is the starter will be mature enough to be able to make bread. The other option is to make your own. It’s really easy to make your own, but you can’t immediately begin creating all the sourdough things.

I have done both of these methods. While the process was much easier to just buy or use a mature starter, I learned so much more when I began my own from scratch. I took ownership of it and began to understand sourdough in a way I hadn’t with the friend version. In the beginning, I was measuring out every bit of flour and water, but eventually, I could just eyeball the consistency of my starter and knew what to look for! That’s still pretty amazing to me!

Easy Recipes for Beginners

One of the first recipes I’d suggest for the beginner is make some yummy pancakes! This is the recipe I use and love! Pro tip: This electric skillet makes cooking pancakes (and quesadillas, grilled cheese, etc) a dream!! Another tip, while you are making your pancakes add some butter and real maple syrup to a saucepan and warm on low heat. It takes these pancakes to the next level!

Another recipe I’d suggest are these sourdough blueberry muffins. I normally make a double batch so we can eat them the next day too! If you don’t want to worry about buying liners each week, these reusable ones are super cute!!

The last beginner recipe I want to share is this sourdough discard pizza recipe. It is so simple, so delicious, and a great way to use up your discard! This pizza pan comes in handy at the last step when you cook your pizza.

Sourdough bread?

I’m choosing not to share much about the bread making process. In my beginner’s journey to sourdough, I needed to gain confidence with these easier recipes before diving into the world of bread making. Plus, it takes awhile for your starter to mature enough to make bread. While you wait, you can enjoy these delicious recipes!