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My Sweet Sourdough Journey
My Sweet Sourdough Journey
by Henry Derrer
My dad’s sourdough always turned out perfect – golden brown, soft to the touch, a crust so crunchy it was gone before the first slice. It tasted like home. I’d watch him curate the starter to perfection, feeding it on a fixed schedule, discarding, feeding, repeat. He’d flour the countertop and knead the dough, then patiently let it sit and rise. Stories of his family’s traditions would flow out of him as we impatiently waited for the sourdough to bake through. The extensive history of this simple food always piqued my interest, so I decided to put on my apron, take a trip down memory lane, and explore just how salient the roots of sourdough are.
The young sourdough starter after a nice stir. A small piece of grape is visible in the top left Corner (October 31, 2025). Photo by Henry Derrer.
The dough while in the process of kneading (November 2, 2025). Photo by Henry Derrer.
I began by making the starter, the base of all sourdoughs. The twist: my dad always used a special ingredient for his. Grapes! It seems quite strange, but wild grape skin attracts wild yeast, making it the perfect catalyst for a starter (Hamel). After a couple of days the starter seemed healthy; it had that good yeasty, kombucha-like smell. It was bubbly like the foam on the banks of a fast river. It was ready to become bread. I took out a cup of the starter and mixed it with flour and water until it was the perfect consistency. I expected the next part, kneading the dough, to be dreadful, but it actually turned out to be quite enjoyable. It was a satisfying experience, folding the dough forward, pushing it inwards, turning it, and repeating. The dough was sticky but didn’t cling to my hands, and was so soft. I placed it on parchment paper, put it in the dutch oven, and in it went for 30 minutes.
Much to my dismay, the loaf did not rise nearly as much as I’d hoped. At first I thought it was a disaster. My first loaf looked more like an overly large skipping stone than bread. The crust was flat, warm, and golden brown. I decided to cut my losses and sat down to dig in with a couple of my best friends. The loaf was dense. It took some work to cut through it, but as we did steam started emanating from the crumb. Memories started flooding back to me as the smell of my dad’s sourdough funneled into my nose. Butter melted into my slice as the three of us took our first bite. It was chewier than my dad’s. Fresh, homey, sour. We laughed and enjoyed my UFO of bread over the backdrop of a pumpkin-scented candle and reality TV.
The loaf fresh out of the oven (November 2, 2025). Photo by Henry Derrer.
In many families sourdough starter is given as a generational gift. Although my dad never passed down jars of his grape starter to me “like heirloom jewelry,” he did pass down something I find to be more important (Scattergood). The tradition of sharing food, despite how it looks or how it tastes, with the people that matter the most to me. My family used to enjoy his sourdough every Sunday. I remember my sister and I defacing his bread by picking all of the crust off before anyone could even cut into it. I remember the Lions game playing in the background, orange leaves on the ground and the smell of fall in the air. I remember snow days where I’d wake up excited about the prospect of a family dinner night with, of course, sourdough. The same magic that I once shared with my family, I now was able to share with my friends.
Sourdough has a supernatural quality to it: it brings people together. It’s not just my family and friends, bread has deep roots in cultures all across the world. Innovations in Traditional Foods affirms that “sourdough bread can be traced back to several millennia BC,” and “has been a staple food worldwide” (Papadimitriou, et al.). A family dinner in ancient Egypt, a feast in middle-ages England, and a quick snack during the Gold Rush all contained the same staple that I grew up with, the same tradition that my family practiced.
Through my turbulent bread effort I’ve discovered two things: my family’s tradition is far from unique, and I clearly lack my dad’s bread-making genes. Although the art of sourdough may not live on through me, its tradition is certainly not in danger of breaking anytime soon.
Works Cited
Derrer, Henry. Photo of dough while kneading. 2 Nov. 2025. Author’s personal collection
Derrer, Henry. Photo of fresh sourdough. 2 Nov. 2025. Author’s personal collection.
Derrer, Henry. Photo of young sourdough starter. 31 Oct. 2025. Author’s personal collection.
Hamel, PJ. “Does Wild Grape Sourdough Starter Really Work?” King Arthur Baking, 24 Sept. 2016, www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2016/09/24/wild-grape-sourdough-starter. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Papadimitriou, Konstantinos, et al. “Sourdough Bread.” Innovations in Traditional Foods, edited by Galanakis, Charis M. Duxford, United Kingdom; Cambridge, MA, Woodhead Publishing, 2019, pp. 127–158, https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/science/chapter/edited-volume/pii/B978012814887700006X. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Scattergood, Amy. “Culture of Sourdough Bread.” The Bloomington Herald-Times, Bloomington, IN, Gannett, 20 Feb. 2008, www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2008/02/20/culture-of-sourdough-bread/117906348/. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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