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  • HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List

    Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List

    Sourdough doesn't take much. That's kind of the point. Before you buy anything, know that people use gear-buying as a way to put off starting. Don't be that person. Here's what you actually need, what's nice to have later, and where I'd get it.

    The Basics (get these before week one)

    • A digital kitchen scale. This is the one thing I'll actually push you to buy. Cups lie, especially with flour, and up here where we're already fighting elevation you don't need one more variable. Ten to fifteen bucks. Any scale that does grams is fine.
    • A big mixing bowl. Glass or plastic, doesn't matter. Big enough that your dough can double and not go over the top.
    • A wide-mouth glass jar for your starter, roughly a quart size. This becomes Herb's house. You'll want to see through the sides so you can watch it rise and fall — that's half of learning what it's doing.
    • A spoon or spatula. Whatever you already own.
    • Flour. All-purpose works fine to start. I don't think you need bread flour on day one — that's a nice-to-have, not a need.
    • A kitchen towel or a loose lid for covering the dough. Our air is dry, especially in winter, and dough will skin over on top if it's uncovered. A damp towel fixes this. Took me way too long to figure that out.
    • Your hands. Literally. You do not need a stand mixer for this class.

    That's it for week one. A bowl, a jar, a scale, flour, water, salt. Everything else is optional.

    Nice-to-Have (fine to wait on, or skip forever)

    • A bench scraper. Cheap, and it does make handling sticky dough easier. I use mine for everything, including cutting butter, so.
    • A banneton (that's the basket that gives a loaf its shape). Pretty, not necessary. A bowl lined with a floured towel does the same job.
    • A Dutch oven. This is the one "nice-to-have" that actually changes your bread — it traps steam and gives you a better crust. If you already own one for cooking, use it. If not, don't run out and buy one for this class. We'll bake your first loaves a simpler way.
    • A scoring lame (the razor blade tool for slashing the top). I use a plain paring knife. One slash so the loaf opens where you want it, that's the whole trick. I'm not going to pretend I do the fancy leaf patterns — I don't.
    • Bread flour, once you're hooked and want to see the difference in chew.

    Shopping Notes

    Flour, salt, and a mixing bowl you can get anywhere — Macey's, Costco if you want a big bag of flour that'll last you months once you're baking regularly. I buy my flour in the 25-pound bags at Costco now because once this becomes a habit you go through it fast.

    The scale and the bench scraper are worth checking a kitchen or hardware store before you order online, just so you're not waiting on shipping to start. But honestly any cheap scale from anywhere works. Don't overthink this part.

    One note on water: ours runs cold out of the tap, colder than a lot of recipes assume. I got this wrong for about a month before I figured out I needed to warm mine slightly for the starter and dough to behave. We'll talk about exact temps in class, but don't buy anything special for this — just know your tap water and a recipe writer's tap water might not be the same water.

    Bring what you've got on day one. We'll fill in the gaps together.

    • J
  • HandoutSourdough Cheat Sheet

    Sourdough Cheat Sheet

    Quick reference. Tape this inside a cupboard or stick it by the flour. This is the stuff I actually check, not the stuff that sounds impressive.

    Herb's Care and Feeding

    • Ratio: equal parts starter, flour, water by weight. I keep mine small — about 25g each. No reason to feed 100g if you're not baking that day.
    • Water temp: aim for 80–85°F. Our tap water runs cold up here, colder than most recipes assume. I got this wrong for a month before I figured out why my starter was sluggish. Warm it a little. Not hot, just warm.
    • When it's ready to use: doubled, domed, bubbly on top, smells sour-ish not gross. If you can do the float test (spoonful in water, it floats) go ahead, but honestly I mostly just look at it now.
    • You do not need to discard half of it every day. Feed small, keep small. Less flour down the drain, less guilt. That whole discard culture thing is a bit much.
    • If it stalls or smells off, don't panic. Feed it again. If it's truly dead, start over — takes about a week, no big deal. Mine died on day four the first time. I thought I'd ruined sourdough forever. I hadn't.

    Dough Basics

    • Weigh everything. Cups lie, especially flour. A cheap kitchen scale is the one piece of equipment I'll actually push on you.
    • Typical hydration for beginners: 70-75%. Wetter dough is stickier to work with but makes a nicer crumb. Lower it if you're overwhelmed. That's a fine trade.
    • Autolyse (flour + water rest before adding starter/salt): 30 minutes minimum, up to an hour. Just lets the flour hydrate. Skip it if you're short on time, it's not sacred.

    Bulk Rise — Watch the Dough, Not the Clock

    This matters double at our elevation. Recipes are usually written by someone at sea level in a humid kitchen. We're at about 4,600 feet and dry. Things move faster here, especially in summer.

    • Fold every 30 minutes, 3-4 folds total, instead of one long undisturbed rise.
    • Dough's ready when it's puffy, jiggly, maybe 50-75% bigger, not doubled and definitely not doubled and collapsing.
    • My early loaves overproofed constantly because I followed sea-level timing. Now I just... look at it. Poke it. Learn what yours looks like.

    Dry Air Problem

    Our house air is dry, worse in winter, and dough skins over during rises if it's uncovered. Cover with a damp towel or a lid. Took me way too long to figure out something that simple.

    Shaping & Scoring (my weak spot, no shame)

    • I can get you a good-tasting loaf. Pretty and tight is not my specialty and I won't pretend otherwise.
    • One clean slash with a sharp knife or razor is enough to let it open properly while baking. Fancy leaf patterns are not required. I don't do them.

    Baking

    • Preheat your dutch oven (or pot with lid) at 450-475°F, at least 30 minutes.
    • Bake covered ~20 minutes, uncovered ~20-25 more, until deep golden.
    • Internal temp around 205-210°F if you want to check with a thermometer.

    The One Rule I Still Break

    Let it cool completely before you cut it. An hour, minimum, longer is better. Bread keeps cooking on the inside as it cools. Cut it hot and it gums up in the middle every time. I know this. I still cut mine too early sometimes. Don't be like me on this one.

    • J
  • Worksheet```markdown

    ```markdown # Sourdough Bread Basics — Handout 3 ## Your Bake-Day Checklist and Notes Page

    This is the page you actually use. Bring flour to it if it drips, that's fine. I keep mine by the flour bin at home, not on my phone — same idea here.

    ---

    Before You Start

    • [ ] Starter fed and doubled? (mine, Herb, usually takes 4-6 hrs on the counter — yours may differ)
    • [ ] Scale out and zeroed
    • [ ] Water temp checked — our tap runs cold up here, I aim for 90-95°F, not straight from the faucet
    • [ ] Big bowl, spoon or dough scraper, towel or lid for covering

    Note: cups lie. Weigh your flour if you've got a scale. If you don't have one yet, that's the one piece of gear I'll actually tell you to go get.

    ---

    Mix

    Time mixed: _______________

    Starter used (g): _______ Water (g): _______ Flour (g): _______ Salt (g): _______

    Dough feel right after mixing (circle one): shaggy / smooth / super sticky / other: _______

    ---

    Bulk Rise — Watch the Dough, Not the Clock

    We're at about 4,600 feet here and things move faster than whatever recipe you're reading off the internet. That recipe was probably written by someone at sea level. Don't trust their timeline. Trust what's in front of you.

    Room temp: _______°F Start time: _______

    Fold times (do 3-4 over the first couple hours): 1. _______ 2. _______ 3. _______ 4. _______

    Cover with a damp towel or a lid — our air is dry, especially in winter, and the dough skins over otherwise. Learned that one the slow way.

    Dough ready when (check what you see): - [ ] Noticeably puffed, not necessarily doubled - [ ] Jiggles a little when you nudge the bowl - [ ] Smooth, a little domed on top - [ ] Bubbles visible at the surface or sides

    Bulk rise ended: _______ Total time: _______

    ---

    Shape

    I'll be honest, this is my weak spot. My loaves taste fine and look a little lumpy. If yours comes out prettier than mine, no hard feelings.

    Shape used: round / batard / didn't really shape, just went for it

    ---

    Final Proof

    • [ ] In fridge overnight (my usual)
    • [ ] On counter, room temp

    Time in: _______ Time out / baked: _______

    ---

    Bake

    Oven preheated to: _______°F With Dutch oven / pot inside? Y / N

    Scored? One slash, straight down the middle — that's genuinely all I do. If you want leaves and wheat stalks scored into the top, that's a different class than mine.

    Lid on time: _______ min Lid off time: _______ min

    ---

    After the Bake — the part everyone skips

    Let it cool all the way. All the way. I still mess this up sometimes and cut in too early because I can't wait, and the middle goes gummy every single time. It's not done cooking just because it's out of the oven.

    Cooled fully before cutting? Y / N ....(be honest)

    ---

    Notes on This Loaf

    What worked: _______________________________________________

    What you'd change: _______________________________________________

    Crumb (circle): dense / open / gummy in the middle / pretty good actually

    ---

    Bring this page back next week. If your starter didn't get fed at home, that's fine, but tell me — it changes what we do in class. This only works if you're doing the in-between part too.

    - J ```

  • HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide

    Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide

    Every problem on this list, I've had myself. Some of them more than once. Bread tells you what went wrong if you know how to read it — here's the reading.

    1. Starter isn't rising at all Probably too cold or too young. Our tap water runs cold up here, and cold water makes everything sluggish. Use water around 80-90 degrees when you feed it, and give it a warmer spot — top of the fridge is actually too warm, I learned that one the hard way, but near the oven with the light on works. If it's brand new, give it a full two weeks before you panic.

    2. Starter smells like nail polish remover That's just hunger. It's telling you it ran out of food. Feed it. If it still smells sharp after a feed or two, feed smaller amounts more often for a few days.

    3. You killed your starter (you think) Probably not. Sourdough is forgiving, not fussy. Unless it's actually pink or fuzzy, a sad, flat, sour-smelling starter can usually come back with a couple days of regular feeding. If it really is gone, just start another one. My first one died on day four because I forgot about it on top of the fridge. Second one took fine.

    4. Dough is a sticky mess and won't hold together Sourdough dough is supposed to be wetter and stickier than what you're used to if you've made regular bread. Wet hands, not more flour, is usually the fix. If you keep adding flour to make it feel "normal," you'll end up with a dense loaf.

    5. Dough skins over and gets a dry crust during the rise Our air is dry, especially in winter, and an uncovered bowl will crust over every time. Damp towel over the top, or a lid. Took me way too long to figure out something that simple.

    6. Dough won't rise, or rises way too fast If it's sluggish, check your water temp again, or your kitchen might just be cold. If it's rising fast — like, done in half the time a recipe says — that's elevation. We're at about 4,600 feet here and things move quicker, especially in summer. This is the big one for beginners: watch the dough, not the clock. A recipe written by someone at sea level is not written for your kitchen.

    7. Loaf came out dense and gummy in the middle Two likely causes. Either it was underproofed, or — more likely if the rest of the loaf looks fine — you cut it too soon. Bread keeps cooking on the inside as it cools. I still do this to myself sometimes because I'm impatient. Let it cool all the way. I mean all the way, an hour or more.

    8. Loaf spread out flat instead of holding its shape Usually overproofed, or the shaping was too loose. Shaping is honestly my weakest thing too — I get good-tasting bread that looks a little lumpy, so don't feel bad if yours isn't a magazine boule. But if it's going properly flat and pancake-ish, it likely sat too long before baking.

    9. No "ear" or the crust didn't open up right That's your score. One clean, decisive slash, about half an inch deep, right before it goes in the oven. I don't do fancy leaf patterns or anything — one good slash so the bread has somewhere to expand. If you scored too shallow or hesitated, it can seal back up instead of opening.

    10. Crust is pale and soft, not crackly You probably need more steam in the first part of the bake. A pan of hot water in the oven, or a covered pot, does the trick. Also — dry Utah air pulls moisture out of everything, ours included, so don't skip the steam step thinking you don't need it here. You need it more.

    If your loaf comes out wrong, save a slice and think about which of these it looks like. That's more useful to me in class than a perfect loaf, honestly. Bring the ugly one.

    • J
  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JULIE: —and so I threw the whole thing out. Jar and all. I thought, well, that's it, I've killed sourdough forever, guess this isn't for me.

    JESS: Wait, day four? That's so fast.

    JULIE: Day four. It was on top of the fridge because I read somewhere that's a warm spot, and up here in the winter I figured warm was good. It was too warm. And then I just... forgot about it for a couple days. Came back and it was not a starter anymore. It was a science experiment gone bad.

    JESS: Okay for anyone just tuning in, this is Julie Minor, she teaches Sourdough Bread Basics for us, and this is episode one, so — Julie, back up. What happened after the jar went in the trash.

    JULIE: I looked it up and found out that's just... normal. People kill their first starter all the time. You don't fail out of bread. You just start a second one. So I did, and that one took, and here we are, four years later.

    JESS: I love that the origin story is "I threw it away and tried again."

    JULIE: That's basically the whole class, honestly. Lower the stakes. It's flour and water sitting out on the counter. If it dies you make another one, it's not precious.

    JESS: So let's talk about session one specifically, because people signing up want to know what they're walking into.

    JULIE: Session one we build a starter from scratch. Just flour, water, a jar. I don't want anybody buying anything fancy before they've even started, because — and this is my whole soapbox — people buy equipment to avoid starting. A banneton, a special scoring blade, all that. You don't need it. A bowl and a spoon and your hands is genuinely enough for a long time.

    JESS: But you do want people to buy one thing.

    JULIE: A scale. Cups lie to you, especially with flour, it's the one thing I'll actually push on. Cheap kitchen scale, ten bucks, changes everything.

    JESS: Okay that's the tip, right there, for anyone listening who isn't even taking the class — buy a $10 scale, weigh your flour.

    JULIE: That's it. That's genuinely most of it.

    JESS: Now I have to ask about the hiking group, because I heard a rumor.

    JULIE: [laughs] Okay so. I hike on Saturdays with a few guys, Gregory, Darrell, Brandon, and at some point after our routes they just started being my taste testers. Nobody asked them, it just happened, I'd bring a loaf and cut it up in the parking lot.

    JESS: And now there's a demand.

    JULIE: Darrell has a specific loaf he wants. Rosemary. He asks about it like it's on a menu somewhere. "Is the rosemary one happening this week." I act a little put out about it.

    JESS: But you make it.

    JULIE: I make it. Every time.

    JESS: That's the anecdote I wanted, honestly, because it's such a normal way to end up with a following. You didn't set out to be a bread teacher.

    JULIE: No, not even a little. This started because David's hours got cut one winter and I looked at a loaf at Macey's and thought, I could probably make that for less. Turns out I could, eventually, badly at first.

    JESS: Badly how?

    JULIE: Oh — dense, gummy, the whole thing. We'll get into all the ways it goes wrong, because honestly that's more useful than me just handing you a pretty loaf and saying good job. If yours comes out dense I want to know why, and I want you to know why.

    JESS: So what should people actually expect walking into session one, physically. Like what are they doing with their hands.

    JULIE: Everybody gets a jar, we mix it together right there, flour and water, and you start feeding it. That's the whole session. It's not exciting to watch. It's exciting over the next week when you start seeing bubbles and it's, like, alive. That part still gets me a little, four years in.

    JESS: And people take the starter home.

    JULIE: Take it home, feed it, and I mean it — feed it. I get a little restless with people who sign up and then don't touch it between sessions. It's a week of small effort. Two minutes a day, tops.

    JESS: What happens if somebody's starter looks weird, like, is there a wrong kind of weird.

    JULIE: There's a normal weird and a bad weird, and we'll cover that next time, actually, because that's really the session two conversation — what your starter should look like day by day, what's fine, what means start over. Also water temperature, which sounds boring but it's not. Ours runs cold out of the tap up here and that alone can make your dough sluggish for weeks if you don't catch it. Took me a month to figure that one out myself.

    JESS: A whole month?

    JULIE: A whole month. Small thing, big difference, once I warmed the water up.

    JESS: Okay, so next session — starter check-ins, water temperature, what normal weird looks like.

    JULIE: And we'll talk about the dry air thing too, probably, since it's already coming up. People's dough skins over here because the house is so dry. Easy fix, but nobody tells you about it until it's already happened to you.

    JESS: This is a good cliffhanger for a bread podcast.

    JULIE: [laughs] It's a low bar.

    JESS: Alright — bring your jar, feed your starter, and we'll see you at session two.

    JULIE: - J

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay but did it actually work, or are you being nice about it?

    JULIE: No, it worked. That's the thing. People warmed up their water like I said and their dough moved again. I had, I think, three people email me the same day. It's such a small fix.

    JESS: For anyone who wasn't in the room, say the actual tip. Not the whole backstory, just the tip.

    JULIE: Okay. If your dough feels sluggish, like it's just sitting there not doing anything, check your water temperature. Our tap water up here runs cold, especially in winter. I use warm water, like 95, 100 degrees, not hot, and it wakes everything up. I spent about a month blaming my starter for being slow when it was literally the water the whole time.

    JESS: A month.

    JULIE: A month. I kept feeding Herb and being like, what is wrong with you, and nothing was wrong with him. I just kept handing him cold water and expecting him to be fast about it.

    JESS: Herb, for new listeners, is —

    JULIE: My starter. It was a joke name at first and now my kids ask if he's hungry. Elsie genuinely thinks he's a pet.

    JESS: Does he get fed on a schedule or —

    JULIE: Small starter, small feeds, whenever I'm going to bake. I don't do the whole discard-half-of-it-every-single-day thing. I know that's the internet standard. I just don't love throwing out that much flour to keep a jar of goo alive.

    JESS: "Jar of goo," write that on a shirt.

    JULIE: I mean it's true.

    JESS: Okay, tell the notebook thing. I like the notebook thing.

    JULIE: Oh — yeah. So I keep my bread notes in a spiral notebook, the cheap kind, sitting right by the flour. Not my phone. I've got an app, it exists, I just don't use it.

    JESS: Why not, if it's right there?

    JULIE: Same reason my family tree stuff is in a binder and not just online somewhere. I want to be able to flip back and see what I wrote in my own handwriting from three weeks ago. Like, "dough felt tight, water was cold, rise took forever." That means more to me on paper. I don't know. It's the same muscle, watching something over time and writing down what happened. Genealogy, bread, it's honestly the same thing to me, I just don't usually say that out loud because it sounds a little much.

    JESS: I mean you just said it out loud.

    JULIE: Yeah, well. Don't make it weird.

    JESS: [laughing] Okay, so — practical tip people can use tonight, no class required.

    JULIE: Warm your water. Genuinely, that's it. If something you're doing with a starter feels stalled, check the temperature before you assume you did something wrong. It's usually not you.

    JESS: That's good. That's a real one.

    JULIE: Most of my tips are like that. Small, boring, actually works.

    JESS: What's session three?

    JULIE: Shaping and scoring. I'll say right now, shaping is not my strong point. My loaves taste fine and look a little lumpy, that's just honest. But I can show you the basics — how to get some tension on the outside so it holds its shape, and then one clean slash across the top so it opens where you want instead of wherever it feels like.

    JESS: No fancy leaf patterns.

    JULIE: Absolutely not. One line. That's the whole trick I know.

    JESS: I love that as a teaser. "Come learn the one trick I know."

    JULIE: It's accurate.

    JESS: Bring your starters?

    JULIE: Bring Herb, or whatever you named yours. Should be active by then if you've been feeding it. If it's not, bring it anyway, we'll figure out why.

    JESS: Alright. See everyone next week.

    JULIE: - J

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —wait, so it's just a wet towel. That's it. That's the whole fix.

    JULIE: That's the whole fix. I felt kind of dumb once I figured it out.

    JESS: Okay, back up, because I dropped in mid-story. Tell people what we're talking about.

    JULIE: Right, sorry. So somebody in class last week asked why the top of their dough kept getting this dry, kind of leathery skin on it during the rise. And I knew immediately what it was because I had that exact problem for probably a year.

    JESS: A year.

    JULIE: A year. Our air up here is so dry, especially in winter, and the surface of the dough just sits there exposed and dries out while the inside's trying to rise. It skins over. Then when you fold it in or shape it you get these tough streaks running through the loaf.

    JESS: And the fix is...

    JULIE: A damp towel over the bowl. Or a lid, if you've got a container with one. That's it. Just keep the surface from drying out. Took me too long to land on something that simple.

    JESS: I love that you keep saying that. "Took me too long." Like there's a theme.

    JULIE: There kind of is. A lot of bread is just, the answer's small and you overthink it. Anyway, that's a free one — you don't have to be in my class to use that. Damp towel, or a lid. Done.

    JESS: Okay, love a takeaway you can use before you even walk in the door. So this week in the room, you guys did the stretch and fold thing, right?

    JULIE: We did. That's usually the session where people relax a little, because up till then it's mostly watching the starter and talking about water temperature and they're antsy to actually touch dough.

    JESS: Was there a moment this week that stuck with you?

    JULIE: Yeah, actually. So this was the week my dad had his first cardiology appointment down in Provo. And I don't love waiting on those kinds of things. I don't sit still well with it.

    JESS: Sure.

    JULIE: So that whole week I just baked. Four loaves. Way more than we needed. But the folding part especially — you're just standing there with your hands in the dough, working it in stages, and it gave me somewhere to put all of it. I wasn't thinking about the appointment while I was doing it. I was thinking about whether the dough felt right.

    JESS: Did it help? Like actually?

    JULIE: It did. I don't know if it was the bread specifically or just having something with my hands. But four loaves later I felt better, and we had bread coming out our ears, so.

    JESS: [laughs] What'd you do with four loaves?

    JULIE: Gave some away. Froze one. My hiking group ended up with a loaf that Saturday, actually — Darrell requests the rosemary one now, which I act annoyed about, but I make it every time so.

    JESS: You're not fooling anyone, Julie.

    JULIE: I know. Anyway. Appointment went fine, for the record.

    JESS: Good. Okay — practical tip. Give the podcast people something they can use tonight even if they never take the class.

    JULIE: Weigh your flour. If there's one thing... a cup of flour can be anywhere from four ounces to six ounces depending on how you scoop it, and that's the difference between dough that's workable and dough that's a brick. A cheap kitchen scale, like fifteen bucks, fixes more bread problems than almost anything else I could tell you.

    JESS: More than the towel?

    JULIE: Different problem, but yeah, honestly, probably more.

    JESS: Okay. Last thing — next session. What are we walking into?

    JULIE: Shaping and scoring. Which I'll be upfront about — shaping is not my strongest thing. My loaves taste good and they still come out a little lumpy sometimes. So I'm not gonna stand up there and pretend I've got some perfect boule technique. But I'll show you what I do, and more importantly I'll show you what happens when it goes wrong, because that's actually more useful to watch than a perfect loaf.

    JESS: Low stakes, high honesty.

    JULIE: That's the whole class, basically.

    JESS: Bring your starter?

    JULIE: Bring your starter. Fed, please. I get a little restless if people show up and it's been sitting in the fridge since week one.

    JESS: Noted. Everybody go feed your starters.

    JULIE: - J

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