About Basic Loaf (and Me!)
I'm not a fancy professional baker with a secret ancestral starter passed down through generations. I've a full time job in tech, a lovely wife and two small humans. I'm a big fan of baking and cooking.
Like many, I jumped headfirst into the sourdough craze during the pandemic lockdowns. My initial attempts? Let's just say they ranged from 'interestingly dense' to 'potential doorstop'. There were frisbees. There were bricks. My family politely endured my experiments.
But I persisted and kept tweaking, reading, simplifying, and trying to figure out a way to make genuinely great sourdough that *didn't* require me to quit my job or sacrifice sleep to follow some ridiculously complex schedule. I needed something that fit around real life – school runs, work calls and busy kids social calendars on the weekends.
Eventually, through trial, error, and probably too much flour, I perfected a method that worked for me. It's reliable, tasty and produces a consistent loaf every day for my family. And crucially, it didn't demand constant attention. I started sharing the method with friends and family who'd previously been scared off by sourdough, and seeing them succeed was brilliant. That's what led to this site – a place to share this simple, foolproof approach more widely.
The Basic Loaf Philosophy: Keep it Simple!
Sourdough has this reputation for being difficult, temperamental, almost mystical. It doesn't have to be!
The core ideas here are:
- Simplicity: Minimal steps, minimal fuss. We focus on what *really* matters.
- Low Effort: Your time is precious. This method relies on long, slow fermentation where time does the hard work, not you.
- Foolproof: Designed to be reliable and forgiving, reducing the chances of those early 'doorstop' loaves.
- No Waste: We use the 'scrapings' method for feeding the starter – no unnecessary discarding!
The goal isn't just to give you a recipe, but to demystify the process and empower you to bake amazing sourdough bread confidently, even with a busy life.
Follow Along / Get in Touch
While this site covers the core method, you can sometimes find me sharing random baking thoughts or questionable experiments over on Instagram.
Follow @william_the_poon on Instagram
Happy baking!