We bought a sourdough starter months ago because we both really enjoy sourdough bread.

We mixed up the starter two weeks ago because we had time and thought it would be a great idea.

The starter got contaminated and we had to wash it. And wash it. And wash it.

About a week and a half ago, everything seemed good and I made some bread from it. It turned out pretty well. Had a nice sour taste and the crust looks pretty much how it is supposed to. It didn’t rise as much as I’d hoped it would but I think that that’s due to not letting it proof long enough and interrupting the kneading to stop and have dinner.

Your supposed to steam the bread while it bakes to get that perfect sourdough crust. I saw directions talking about misting the bread frequently or spraying the sides of the oven and it all seemed like a fair bit of work. I decided to just put boiling water in our cast iron skillet and place it in the lukewarm oven. The bread went onto a stone which was cold. and I put that into the oven a few minutes after the water. A really nice steamy environment had built up and the crust came out ok.

I forgot to slash the bread so it popped during baking but it seems like that added a little bit of rustic charm to the loaves.

It ended up baking for about 90 minutes but that’s probably mostly due to starting out with a stone and nothing being preheated fully.