My dad is very (very) old, and he has reached that point where there is no such thing as a minor medical emergency. That’s not to say that everything is a massive emergency, but healing time is considerably longer and requires more assistance. Not to mention that in addition to being very, very old he is also very, very dramatic, so we are never one hundred percent sure about the severity of any given ailment. Therefore my sister and/or I are often hopping on an airplane and heading back to the desert.

And of course everyone’s first thought upon arriving in the desert is, “let’s bake something!”

Yet whenever we visit the old guy we have to make sure to stock him up on sourdough bread. He insists he has never found a suitable store-bought sourdough outside of California (I can’t argue with him, there aren’t a lot of suitable store-bought sourdoughs anywhere), so when in the GC State we bake many loaves, slice them up and leave them in his freezer. Occasionally we try to give some to a friend or a neighbor, but this has to be done on the serious DL because the old man does NOT like to share his bread, even though every time we stock him up he says he probably won’t live long enough to finish it.

We’re still baking.

Despite appearances to the contrary I have not made it my personal mission to convince everyone to bake their own sourdough. I mean, it’s not the worst idea, but it’s not my primary intention. I just feel like if you’re gonna eat bread, this is the stuff to eat. It tastes better, it’s better for you, it’s cheaper, and it makes your house smell like sunshine and hugs. And everything you need to make it is probably already in your kitchen. Even if you don’t have a starter, a starter starts with just a little flour and water.* But, again, I’m not trying to convince you, at least not with any personal agenda in mind. I share my stories because it’s silly for peeps to think it’s such a big deal when it doesn’t have to be. And since I have previously claimed that you can resuscitate a wildly neglected starter, here is my evidence.

I will save your eyes the trouble of focusing on that sloppy writing and tell you that Bertram was last fed October 28, 2022, Dan last ate in April of last year, and Sosie Deux had her last meal in late January.

Needless to say, there were some significant differences in their activity levels after the first feeding.

I set Sosie aside and fed Bert and Dan a second time. This is when Bert came back to life, but Dan needed even more convincing. This surprised me, since Bertram had sat almost a year longer without being fed. Bert is the source of Kevin Bakin and he originally comes from my sister’s Montana starter that is over 100 years old. I guess they really do make everything sturdier in Montana.

In the end, the Arizona results are every bit as ambiguous but tasty as they were in Oakland: varying degrees of sourness, all really good bread. I have concluded, however, that the original Montana starter (Bertram/Kevin Bakin) is the best for sandwich bread. If I was better at chemistry I could explain why; but I’m not so you’ll have to take my word for it.

My sister arrives in a few hours, which means tacos and blood-orange margaritas are in my not too distant future. Also, as yet unbeknownst to her, I have a whole cache of random recipes that people have sent me recently, so I feel more sourdough shenanigans may also be on the horizon.

*If you are feeling adventurous enough to try your own starter, this is the one I used to make Sosie. However, as you may have surmised, after the initial 7 days I did not keep feeding her twice a day for all of eternity. And I use equal parts AP flour, water and starter. Remember to KISS…