Sourdough came along in earnest in September 2019, I birthed my starter on my birthday, because (spoiler) that’s the sort of thing you do in your 40’s - I’m afraid. I'd had a go at sourdough about 15 years ago, but back then you had to read actual books from libraries and follow ill thought out diagrams on how to fold and shape loaves, so it was hard and quite unrewarding. I made some real crap and had no one to ask why it was rubbish or how to fix it. So when I went on holiday for a month, after forgetting to refrigerate my starter, I was oddly elated to return home to find it had died. 15 years later I'm a better, more patient person, a better cook. Also, Google, Youtube, and Instagram have made masses of information, techniques, and tutorials accessible in real-time. Making bread a few times a week is now just a pleasing ritual and sourdough in particular never ceases to impress me in that you can create an incredibly delicious thing out of virtually nothing; flour, water, salt, time, and heat. Plus, it’s MUCH cheaper than buying it. Also, sourdough takes time and it’s a nice benign exercise in mindfulness; something that requires a bit of planning, some regular (if minimal) intervention, a bit of technique, some room for panache if you’re that way inclined, then at the end of it you more often than not get a great sandwich. It’s art, science, therapy, and lunch - all at the same time.
OWEN COCHRANE I'm Owen Cochrane, I’m 42, I live in Brighton and Hove on the south coast of the UK with my wife and 2 small kids. I've been working in IT and project management for the last 15 years, which is fine, but when I'm not either working, parenting, or tidying up, I'm almost certainly thinking about, reading about, preparing, or just eating food. I've always cooked obsessively, as far back as I can remember and it’s a hobby that, luckily for me, I get to practice daily, what with humans being compelled to eat several times a day to survive and all. Cooking something nourishing and with care, every day for myself and my family is a far better use of time than, say, kite surfing or collecting hats.
I started my Instagram account in February 2020 as a bread diary for me and as a way to stop spamming my personal feed with nerdy posts about hydration % and internal dough temperatures. I didn’t even bother telling anyone about it (most of my friends still don't even know that it exists, which is a bit weird now that I think about it) and I never intended for anyone to care about it. But then, global lockdown happened and the whole world started baking so here we are. But bread Instagram is a nice, instructive and supportive corner of the internet, I've learned loads, met lots of really lovely, helpful people from all over the world, so that’s nice. I’ve never really considered making bread in terms of future plans, but the idea of staying up all night on my own listening to music and playing with the dough in my own, extremely thoughtfully furnished micro-bakery is something that, now I write it down, sounds very appealing. So you never know. I'm also vehemently opposed to the naming of starters. Moreso if it involves some sort of pun. So if you're currently feeding Dough Pesci twice a day, that's fine and your business, but it's unlikely we can ever be friends.
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