by Alex Kinderman, June 27, 2020

2020 has definitely presented itself as a challenging, insane, and dramatic year that is only half way through, but in spite of it I have still tried to move on and keep learning through all of this. One of my biggest learning curves has been learning how to make sourdough bread for the first time! It seems through all the extra free time anyone and everyone was making their starters to use for making sourdough bread and I had to get on the bandwagon. I have experimented with different flours, bake times, rise times, and all in all have been using my starter to make sourdough like crazy. I have also gotten to play around with different scoring techniques which can really become an art form within bread making. I’ve also learned starter can be used for many different breads, not just sourdough like I previously thought. I have made pita, pizza dough, focaccia, waffles, and a ton of different recipes with my starter. The neat thing about using one is the sourness and grain forward almost malty flavor notes and aromas you can impart on the bread with it.

One other learning experience for me with all this extra time has been diving back into gardening. I had an old garden plot that I brought back to life with new soil and I even added more to my garden by building some raised beds. Right now I have tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, onions, garlic, different greens, brassicas, herbs, corn, sunflowers, squash, melons, nasturtium, root vegetables, and tons more in the list growing in my backyard! It’s very exciting to have a huge garden this year and watching everything grow. I also have the Capstone showcase coming up at the end of this upcoming summer quarter so it could be a great opportunity for my group and I to take advantage of my garden and use some of the ingredients towards what we decide to make and serve in the showcase!