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Vent: I just baked my 500th loaf of sourdough and the number hit me

I was updating my baking log last night and the total was 500, exactly. I started the starter three years ago during that weird time. It took me 50 loaves to get a decent ear, and another 100 to feel like I had any control over the crumb. That number made me realize how much flour and time that actually is, and I still feel like I'm guessing half the time. Has anyone else had a milestone that made them stop and think?

3 comments

3 Comments

jackson.max3d ago

Guess you learn more from five hundred tries than one perfect loaf.

henry_anderson543d ago

Hard disagree on that one. A perfect loaf shows you actually UNDERSTOOD the process. Five hundred messy tries just means you practiced being wrong. You need that one perfect result to know what the goal even looks like. Otherwise you're just guessing. Quality of practice matters way more than blind repetition.

wood.jana3d ago

I used to think like that, that one perfect loaf was the only real goal. But after my own 500th loaf, I see it differently. That one perfect one I got on try 87 was a fluke, I couldn't repeat it. The real learning was in all the dense ones, the flat ones, the ones where I forgot the salt. You figure out how flour and water actually act in your kitchen, not in a book.