Can sourdough do a better job than a therapist?

The idea of creating my own fresh yeast was overwhelming, equally intimidating was the images of breads I saw on YouTube or Instagram. Why did I want to bake a sourdough? What could I possibly learn about myself, that neither self reflection or my own therapist couldn’t teach?

Well, for one, I am a great cook, I use cooking as a therapy. I love to cook. I can bake, but baking can be rigid, but some of my previous therapists were also very rigid. It turns out, baking can be fun, as much fun as cooking. I’ve learned there are different therapists out there, my present one, is more on the normal side than the others, or (maybe I am more normal than before, and can easily perceive a healthy one from not healthy one?), He is not afraid to answer a simple question such as “hey how was your week”? Not that I think, or expect him to tell me his life, but he can laugh when I tell him, “I am getting my moneys worth”. In other words, therapists and baking can be less rigid or less scary, than you and I could think. It can teach us to look at our behavior patterns.

Once I started to learn about sourdough, it got, even more intricate. I wanted to quit several times. My yeast didn’t react like all the blogs told me it should. Life doesn’t react like everyone says it should. Nor therapist will tell you what you want to hear.

Once, I was stubborn and decided to bake with a non ready non raised yeast. Not only I baked, I worked hard at it. Only to find out that I baked a terrible bread. Can someone out there relate to it? We can sometimes stick to projects, jobs or people, knowingly it will not be good for us, but our ego, pride, codependency, doesn’t allow us to let it go!

It took a lot longer than I anticipated to bake a good bread. It took mastering, how the yeast reacts. It took patience, what I admittedly don’t have, to wait for the bread to rise, several hours, and sometimes, twenty four hours easily.

In the end, the yeast was mastered, but I still needed to learn to bake the bread without burning the crust. For one, I learned, to not rely exclusively on what people write or post it. I will need to learn how my oven, flour ratios and rising time reacts. Not all recipes fit all, nor baking sourdoughs breads will turn out the same ever single time.

The temperature will have an impact on the bread, and the flour ratio is important. My “sickness” is to play with different flours and mixtures, a more chewy multi grain, or a more classic white flour bread. My relationship with my husband is forever changing, just like my sourdough breads.

The temperature, moods and seasons can also affect the outcome of my friendships. I concluded that learning to bake sourdough, can do a better job than my therapist…

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