My sourdough starter Priscilla will be ten years old in January, 2017.
In all the years that we’ve had her, I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve bought bread. She has infused herself into the wood and granite and concrete of our kitchen – I suspect that if we left a bowl of flour and water on the bench, the essence of Priscilla would seep out from the nooks and crannies and bring it to a bubble like the witches’ cauldron in Macbeth.
I’d love to say that I grew Pris from scratch, but that would be fibbing. She is unique though, and I’ll tell you why.
In December 2006, I ordered two different sourdough starters from the US. I activated both, storing them very carefully in separate sealed jars in the fridge.
A couple of weeks later, I accidentally tipped the leftover starter on the bench into the wrong jar…and Priscilla was born. I have no idea whether she’s a combination of both original starters, or whether one dominated over the other – she may even be a mutant evolved from the two. But I do know that ever since that day, I’ve had my bubbly girl in the fridge, and she has never let me down.
Priscilla, Queen of the Refrigerator, has a very distinct personality.
If I ignore her for a couple of weeks, she gets sulky and goes out drinking – I know this because she ends up floating in a pool of alcohol (hooch). Then she needs coddling before she’ll behave again – small, regular feeds and gentle words of apology. She can be a diva when she gets her nose out of joint.
On a good day, she will joyously blow bubbles and produce an elegant, well-behaved dough that feels like silk. She seems almost eager to please then, as if to say, “there you go, are you happy now?” and “what else would you like to do? It’s no problem, really…”
She becomes hyperactive in hot weather, creating billowing doughs that try to escape their containers. But bless her, she never collapses in an exhausted heap, and even after a 12 hour+ bulk prove on the bench, she’ll always bounce back for a second rise. Many sourdough starters aren’t this resilient, but Priscilla isn’t greedy, and she seems to know how to pace herself. Or maybe she just has me figured out.
Like many ten year olds, our starter can be a fussy eater. She likes a high protein bakers’ flour, turns her nose up at the fancy stuff, and prefers filtered water. She has a surprisingly sweet disposition for someone with “sour” in her name, and turns out loaves which are flavoursome without being overly acidic. After all, she knows the boys wouldn’t like that.
Since her arrival, Priscilla has changed our lives. If we could bake bread from scratch, then surely we could also grow vegetables and make yoghurt and temper chocolate? It couldn’t be too hard to bake cakes and cookies, or run chickens in the backyard, could it? Self-empowerment comes from believing you can do things you never thought possible, and then being brave enough to try.
And it’s not just our lives she’s changed, because Pris has budded off hundreds of offspring. She has a whole family tree of children, nephews, nieces, second cousins and more grandchildren than you could imagine, each with its own name and personality. She even has a line of drag queen offspring who are exceptionally flamboyant and bubbly. She’s the matriarch of a whole sourdough dynasty!
Sigh. I’d better go now, as she’s calling me. I’ve got dough rising and it’s time to shape!
She looks amazing and you, dear Celia, are a master bread maker.
I love your personification of Priscilla. ☺ I think she has passed on many of her lovely traits to her offspring, which is great as I often bake the overnight loaves. Thanks so much for sharing!🌹🍞🍞
Buon Compleanno Priscilla! Tanti Auguri!
Priscilla’s sister, Sorella has been sent out to a few folk and they have all become addicted to bread making. My niece loves making your high hydration loaf, where Priscilla’s offsprings really get to blow bubbles. She is about to give birth to her second child any moment and all she can talk about is getting some sourdough made. So thanks Celia for sharing her, but more importantly, thanks for sharing your tutorials, without which we would all flounder. You, my dear woman, are one very special person.
Gorgeous post Celia!
I give thanks to both you Celia, and Priscilla each time I bake bread. Mastering the baking of beautiful sourdough has certainly been my most celebrated cooking achievement. 😘
I love reading all your sourdough posts! Priscilla sounds like a dream. My starter was so lack-lustre I have given up on sourdough for the moment. Just living it through your posts until I can recover enough to start all over again! Keep up inducing the jealousy and i might just get motivated again!
You gave me the motivation and courage to bake bread, and via a Priscilla starter the means. I’ve been able to share my starter Polly with several people, some who have gone into be successful, prolific bakers. Polly-daughter-of-Priscilla is resilient. I’ve restarted her after 4 weeks holiday hiatus in the fridge, and restarted ber dehydrated self. Today is my first loaf since returning from our travels, despite a cool dreary day Polly is bubblier than ever, and our house smells like home 🍞
I so loved reading this Celia! Priscilla’s daughter Eve has been a handful at times when I’m confused about what I’m doing but it’s becoming so much easier and I wouldn’t want to be without her. My fussy son even raved about my last loaf and bragged to his father that was away about how good it was :) I’ve now dried and frozen some so I don’t have to worry about her if something goes wrong. Thanks for the tip to do that and thanks once again so much for the amazing gift. If you send me an address I’d like to send you something I’ve just found online and bought three sizes of for myself. I have a feeling it might come in handy in your kitchen too!
I’m also a lucky beneficiary of a Priscilla offspring. You have inspired and encouraged me Celia, and I now bake all our bread too. And hot cross buns, pancakes, sourdough cake, ………
Happy Birthday to Priscilla when it comes. An undoubted queen.
I love this post celia! But making me feel nervous about what is going to land in my post box! I hope it comes with daily instruction…
Girls if you haven’t read this you should it is quite a character we are inheriting! Feeling very privileged!!
Xxx
Priscilla’s offspring is alive and well here, and incredibly resilient! Thank you for sharing Celia.
There are aspects of Priscilla that sound particularly like you! Perhaps she’s absorbed some of your personality.
Oh, I’m sure you’re taking about her resilience and sweet disposition rather than her tendency to be a diva and her alcohol habit, right? ;-)
Well …
This is my first time replying to you. Anne Wheaton put me on to you ( she is FABULOUS !! ) and I have had soooo much fun reading your blogs. I don’t blog, I have a farm facebook page ” Cremona Hillside Farm Page ” and I adore meeting kindred spirits who just do stuff, take great photos and write about what they do with such energy and humour.
My first sourdough ” Albert” died when we were overseas. My over zealous cleaning lady threw out kombucha mother, sourdough starter and kefir grains … now regathered from old mates and very clearly labelled in the fridge.
Current sourdough starter was given to me by a Russian monk ( this is true) and is just like yours- nothing fancy and a bit over active at times near the wood oven or in warmer weather. Thank you so much for your inspiration – and recipes !!!!
I love this post! Hugo is happy and healthy here, helping me make gorgeous sourdough pancakes while our oven is broken. Thank you for your generosity of sharing Priscilla with us all xo
Celia,
You and Priscilla have filled our home with the wonderful aroma of fresh baked sour dough as well. Every time I bake bread not only do my family but many neighbors and friends are greatful. Mastering the baking of beautiful sourdough has certainly been a pleasure. Naming my starter after such a generous person makes me think of you everytime I bake. My Celia is also a very happy, bubbly addition to my kitchen that has been shared with several people in the form of bread as well as starter. Thank you again for the gift you have shared with so many.
What a brilliant post Celia! I suspect if you turned your back and left her on the bench you’d come back and find a loaf proving! Hercules Son of Priscilla has been resting for a few weeks but have been feeding him and he seems happy enjoying his little rest for now.
You make me smile you have such a way with words.
Your bread posts inspired me to get a starter going, and I haven’t looked back. I usually make four or five loaves a week, and my family love them. Thanks for the inspiration.
Great story! I was enchanted to the end!
Excellent as always. I was wondering how much you feed her before putting her in the fridge….I give 30 gms or so of starter about the same amount of water and flour, let it work and then put it in the fridge. I work it up from there when I want to bake. any thoughts? Thanks.
Susan, I’ve written a post about how I manage my starter here:
Happy Birthday, Ms. Pris! Wishing you many happy returns of the day. Waving at you from California, Maz and Big Mama. :-)
You crack me up with this post of yours, Celia. Thanks for brightening my evening.
Thank you Pricilla and Celia for Carmen aka….Calmin’! I think bread making is very calming and you can’t hurry it. I’m in the learning stage. Thank the powers that ‘Be’ that we can share and connect. Much love Marilyn
My loaves made with Priscilla’s granddaughter are always enjoyed by family and friends. Sharing is as rewarding as eating them. Thank you Celia
Always love your posts, Celia! You and Priscilla are resilient and I so admire the lovely loaves you make together. x
Hello from Mississippi…I am 90 years old and thoroughly enjoy your Blog. proves the adage “You’re never too old to learn” Your lovely photos and visual trips teach and your kitchen adventures give us courage to try new what we never dreamed we could….I think I have enough of my allotted time left to try the sourdough…can any name be chosen? I don’t want a floosey (yet maybe) or a underachiever…so serious thought will be given. Your Blog is exactly what I envision a Blog should be…thank you for your time and lovely words. Jere
P.S. I climbed the Sydney Bridge at 75 years old..the view is breath taking.
I’ve had a similar recent empowerment too – homemade yogurt and compost, but alas apartment living means herb pots and no veggie patches just yet! my sourdough journey has come to a halt because my poor sourdough baby is languishing in singapore (where I first started it) and I can’t bring it here :( I can’t wait for you to start your Priscilla giveaways – I’m hoping to get my hands on some to restart the journey! I’m currently subsisting on commercial yeast and apple yeast water breads ;)
Wonderful post about a wonderful dame. Your breads always look amazing. I’ve taken great inspiration from your adventures with priscilla – in fact if I did not have your overnight sourdough bread recipe I wonder if my starter (named drusilla but usually just “the starter”!) and I sometimes I think if I can nurture a sourdough starter and bake sourdough bread, the sky is the limit – though am still working up to a few more projects. (And I do buy bread sometimes but spend a lot less on fancy breads as I can make my own)
Lovely post Celia. I’m so grateful to you for sharing not only Priscilla but all your bread baking wisdom as well. I’m constantly inspired and amazed by what comes out of your kitchen. I feel like I need to show Lorenzo a bit more love than I have been… I expect a lot from him but don’t coddle him nearly enough (he’s a bit of an alcoholic you see….)
Dear Celia, Priscilla is know over the entire globe, as she arrived at my home many months ago and she truly is the Queen in my refrigerator. All my friends love her for the results of my bread making. Priscilla and I have become very creative in adding interesting flavors and ingredients. I am in love baking bread with her, yet recently she acting up by not being as fluffy and bubbly as she used to be, so therefore my breads turn out a bit too flat. Any advice I can treat ” my girl” differently????
Cornelia, she’s probably sulking because you haven’t given her a new name.. ;-)
Try taking just a small portion out and giving her a series of small feeds over a couple of days. Sometimes too much dead material builds up because we feed without throwing away. I find when that happens, I just take out a bit and feed it 1/4 cup flour and water say three times in the one day and she usually perks back up. Let it sit on the bench while you do this. :)
More info here: https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2015/02/03/priscilla-sourdough-tips-and-suggestions/
Dear Celia, thank you so much for giving me your professional advice and I will follow your great instructions…So I should give her a new name???…. I will do that and name her Celia……hehe.
Hahaha! I’d be honoured!
cornelia.. my suggestion as a newbie to all of this but it worked for me is yes do as Celia said above but I leave mine out of the fridge a couple of hours before putting her back in it each time . I did it once a day like this when she was smelling like nail polish and now all good and bubbly.
That’s interesting Sue! For my fridge starter, I feed and put straight back in the fridge – if I leave it out, it tends to go flat! I guess each starter really DOES vary from kitchen to kitchen! :)
More info here: https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2015/02/03/priscilla-sourdough-tips-and-suggestions/
My very first starter has been started and I have been feeding it all week. I hope it works. I will be making sourdough loaves on Sunday. I will only make one loaf a week so I guess I will have to move the starter to the fridge.
Brilliant Priscilla! She’s changed so many of our lives too 😀😀
My Sally is one of Priscilla’s offspring and I thought she’d gone to God a few weeks back but I nursed her back to health again. She’s frothy and ready for me to make dough this afternoon for Sunday morning bread. I am also going to dry a batch so she will forever live on!
I loved this post Celia. So wonderfully thankful for things as usual. it must be a great feeling to have so many people connected to you.
Celia, you inspired me to race into the kitchen and give Frankenstein, grandson of Priscilla a feed. I love your bread posts and much prefer my own sourdough to commercial bread these days.
Celia …I have an oven now so I can get baking again and i need to grow a son of cilla…Thank you for re-inspiring me :)
Wonderful post, Celia. Priscilla is a marvel…and so are you! Happy Birthday Priscilla and thank you Celia for your patience and generosity in sharing your love of bread making with us all :-)
Celia I need your help!! I began a sourdough starter and it has been working textbook for 6 days. But this morning it is just flat, slimy flour water mixture. Is it dead, can I save it. It was really cold last night maybe it got cold? Can I save it?
Lori, I’ve never made one from scratch – mine turned purple and I had to throw it away. But you could try throwing away half the starter and feeding it up again with fresh flour and water – maybe it just used up all its food? Good luck.
Priscilla has changed our lives as well. I can’t imagine life without our beloved sourdough. And then your hamburger bun recipe is our go to as well. I’ve finally started making all those things from scratch always said I would some day.
I was at Francesca’a site earlier and reading her sourdough post reminded me that Bart had been neglected in the back of the fridge. He’s been fed and I’ll baby him for a couple days. He comes from sturdy stock. He’ll be fine! :)