And this moderation must be constantly managed because the starter wants to eat it’s hungry and wants more. There is a call for reason and moderation, and there are consequences when this idea is violated.

This book definitely emphasizes craftsmanship, but it doesn’t totally reject technology either, which I found really refreshing. Making bread becomes a therapeutic process for her and allows her to find more fulfillment by repeating and refining processes. Thus, the problem was perhaps the point.” “Baking, by contrast, was solving the same problem over and over again, because every time, the solution was consumed.

The relationship she develops with the brothers that run this underground restaurant leads to a gift of the starter, which she uses to transform her life. Her stress translates to her stomach and everything she eats is upsetting her system until she finds a little takeout place that makes a spicy soup and sourdough bread combo. The book’s protagonist is an electrical engineer in San Francisco who is getting burnt out. The bread is so alive that when it’s baked where normally you would see the bread’s marks, she sees faces in the bread instead. It acts and has agency, which is a product of the book’s magical realism, and this agency lets an inexperienced baker create some of the best bread she’s ever had. But it’s also very much alive in the book, and not just with microorganisms. Sourdough is central to understanding this book. In fact, I decided to create my own starter after reading Sourdough by Robin Sloan. I jumped on the sourdough bandwagon a little late. When you buy sourdough bread from the store, it’s often a little dry, but when you make it yourself it’s chewy and stays fresh so much longer.

But it’s also rewarding, and the end result is worth the effort. I’m not going to lie to you, what I’m about to share with you is a process. Sourdough bread has become something of a fad these days, so much so that there have been flour shortages as everyone else has discovered the benefits of baking on the soul, if not the waistline.

Novel sourdough