As the pandemic rages on, I felt I had to upgrade my self-perceived hipster level by changing from baking bread with regular yeast to baking with sourdough. So far, there are ups and downs, and while I’m not exactly hooked, it is hard for me to stop.

Pros:

  • Timing is much more relaxed. Now this is similar to making bread with regular yeast but putting it in the fridge overnight.
  • The bread becomes quite tasty. I haven't tried making rye bread yet, so it might be an unfair comparison. Rye bread doesn’t become as tasty though.
  • Looking cool and being able to blog about sour dough bread.

Cons:

  • It takes at least 24 hours to make bread now, and add 3-4 days more if I were to run out of sour dough starter/base.
  • The starter has to be fed regularly. While I have mine in the fridge and therefore see it everyday, it’s still one more thing to do.
  • If you don’t want to discard parts of the starter, you have to bake regularly or dry/freeze it. So far, I’ve managed by giving parts of it away, as well as giving bread away, allowing me to bake more often without filling my freezer with bread
  • It’s hard to stop. Eventually, one has put a lot of effort into the starter that it feels like a waste to throw it away.