Je vous présente de levain à la Ville de San François

What do you bring to people who have everything? This is what I, a poor man, often ask when I am visiting those who seem to have infinitely more things of value. I have been told that the gift of something homemade is usually appreciated. So, during my adventure of packing for the road trip to San Francisco, I made sure to include two cups of homemade sourdough starter.

Bringing sourdough to San Francisco seemed somewhat amusing. San Francisco is not only the internationally famous the home of sourdough, it has bacteria that are named.

According to an NPR article from The Salt entitled : "Discovering the Science Secrets of Sourdough (You Can Help)"

' Some say a starter's microbial community changes — and so does its flavor— once you bring it to a
different environment. "There's no reason for people to go chasing special pedigrees," says Sandor Katz,
author of the Art of Fermentation. "It's going to be all about what you feed it and the technique of how
often you're feeding it." '

Since I am trying to knock off the pounds, I have all but given up making bread from scratch. I do however love me a good stack of pancakes. And there's nothing better to enrich a pile of flapjacks (IMHO) than a cup of sourdough starter. My Southern California creation picked up some good bacteria from home and I was glad to share it with my host. While I was in San Francisco, I made sure to add water and flour to the dough and let it sit outside with the lid off.

The starter has been sucking up the cold night's foggy air and I am certain that the sourdough has become enriched by the experience. The proof will be in the pancakes on tomorrows grill.

That's what love's all about!