Sourdough Flatbread

Back in the quarantine "heyday", I embraced many of the fads, including hours-long walks, collecting houseplants, overeating, drinking too much, and haircuts given to and received from family members.

Selfie from the September 2020 haircut my backup dancer gave me on our patio

I never did get around to watching "Tiger King", though, and even though I baked like the world was coming to an end--because I feared it was--I somehow missed the pandemic sourdough craze.

Recently, however, as I've been gaining confidence in baking gluten-free breads ("Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread" by King Arthur Baking Company is the fave), I decided to expand my horizons. I put out a request for a gluten-free sourdough starter on a local gluten-free Facebook group, and a stranger kindly offered me some of hers.

If I put a rubber band around the jar at the starter's level after feeding, I can observe how much it grows

Not unlike owning a pet--a pandemic trend I also bypassed--owning a sourdough starter involves some upkeep and TLC. You have to feed your starter regularly (with expensive gluten-free flour in my case), and clean up after it when you do so. Depending on when you plan to use it, you have to pay attention to where you store it (fridge or counter), and you have to consider how much flour and water to feed it based on how much you need for a recipe. I have found the Westminster Kennel Club to be an excellent guide to all these matters. Just kidding! I've been referring to a helpful Bake Club blog post.

My first foray into baking with my starter was King Arthur's "Gluten-Free Sourdough Flatbread". 

I mixed the dough and crossed my weirdly ancient-looking fingers

I halved the recipe, and also made my flatbreads larger than the recipe suggested, which didn't change a thing in terms of baking time. 

I didn't realize when I chose the recipe that one of its ingredients was instant yeast, and this bugged me. Why go to all the trouble of nurturing a sourdough starter if you're just going to throw in instant yeast? For the sourdough taste, I suppose, but it feels like the recipe was missing the point.

Anyway, they turned out well. I served them with vegetarian toppings--guacamole and tomato slices--because I minimize the animal products I eat, to avoid the environmental downsides of livestock agriculture.