The final post in this chapter

So in my final moments of this project I look back at what I've learned, accomplished, and what hurdles I needed to jump to make it here. 

I learned that deviation too far from the path (ahem, pure bread flour starter) can create undesirable results, but at the same time it also has given me a basis as to why that deviation shouldn't occur and I have first hand experience if I need an answer to that question if it ever is brought up. I also re-learned how much I love fresh baked bread. It's been so long since I've had something so fresh and with the experience along the way, I've grown more confident and I've noticed that the steps, technique, and the knowledge of what to look for at certain steps in the process is something I don't have to refer to anymore (besides the measurements which I always have to double check for my own sake). 

Admittedly I'm not the most organized person, and it usually takes me a few attempts to get the right rhythm of things when learning something new. So accomplishing this whole project and learning a new skill in bread making, organizing ingredients, labeling everything properly and finding my own flow felt great to do. 

The biggest challenge was time. My project would've been very easy with upkeep if I had only planned on 1 or 2 starters. But the investigative side of me wanted to learn the answers to some 'what ifs' I had and thus my initial 8 starters was the goal I set on. Thankfully after gathering the equipment and ingredients I recognized how cumbersome this task was and cut back. Otherwise this project would've taken up to 14 hours each week so bringing it down to 6 starters made it a more manageable 10 hours... hahaha. I guess I had a second challenge of equipment which my budget and space also limited the commitment. If I had purchased another banneton (a basket you put your dough into so that it's structure and shape can develop during proofing) I would've been able to bake more loaves per day, but honestly 1 loaf was enough. If I opened my own business or side hustle then maybe I'd invest in about 4 or 5, but I wouldn't want it to be something that consumes too much of my time by expanding into higher volumes. Other equipment I didn't invest in was a bakers steel or a pizza stone which I may purchase in the future for my own sake, but storage is a little tight for more things in the kitchen as the house is 'prepared' for viewings since it's on the market. Lastly as simple as it was, a squeeze bottle for water to spray the dough for rise and crust development. I'm really happy with my bread, but in no way did it compare to the pictures of sourdough I found online. In professional pictures you'd see an 'ear' on the bread which was basically a peeling away of the crust to give the dough a path of least resistance for expansion. Perhaps my technique prevented that because I tried two different scoring methods on each loaf rather than just sticking to one. 

Changes I would definitely make in the future would be my jars. A number of sites recommended 'Weck' jars for the starters and after these weeks I can see why. The rim on the standard mason jars really made it more difficult to properly stir and 'clean' the sides with a spatula. Weck jars are completely straight with a slight taper from top to bottom and they use a glass lid with a rubber removable liner kind of like what you'd see on fancier glass jars with a metal clasp. My other change would be to have more time for my ted talk. I spent a decent amount of time on it, but with the amount of time my task took to begin with the genius hour would resulted in a genius day spending an upwards of 20 hours that week to work on it. Everything else I'm pretty happy with though.

From here I will choose only 1 highlander sourdough starter and continue feeding it and making bread 1 or 2 times a week. It's a lot easier than I anticipated and I can cut feedings down to twice a week by keeping it in the fridge to slow down the activity. I think I'll even use it as an ice breaker for when I begin my practicum.

So that's it for this chapter, but not the end of my bread. And if my bread does end, I'll just bake another one.