Have attempted and perhaps even mastered the art of making crusty tasty sourdough in the last few years.  Go on.  I would hazard a guess that many of you have.  I did.  Attempt it, not master it. 

Now I am an impulsive cook.  A bit of this and a bit of that as I make a dish, with some disregard about whether I have the precise ingredients or not.   I will go through my recipe books and on a whim decide to make some complex dish that should have been commenced the day before.  This recently happened while making pizza for my children’s lunch.  The recipe looked straightforward, except that once made the dough needed to be placed in the fridge, then out the next day to rise, before adding toppings.  Well, with 11.53am on the clock and hungry kids, that was not going to happen…  so I amended the recipe and skipped that whole overnight processing in the fridge thing… and they were still delicious!  I’m all about efficiency, and I really don’t like following instructions all that much!

Given my impatience and aversion to instructions, I don’t know why I attempted sourdough.    You start with flour and water and let that sit in a jar, and ferment, then daily you are attending to it by removing the mucky stuff at the top and adding more flour and water, depending on what it needs.  Essentially you are feeding an organism that is the key ingredient in sourdough baking.  If you have ever tried to make it, you will know that it is a process that never ends unless you run out of sourdough starter. 

My parents were raised on a small island off the coast of Sicily called Lipari.  Largely a fishing and farming island, locals produce enough to feed their families and sell produce to tourists.  Upon hearing my sourdough experiment my mother fondly recounted that in her village, families would share some of their sourdough starter with other families so they could then continue to make their own starter and have a never-ending supply to make their bread. Breadmaking day commenced the day before, ensuring that the family had the necessary ingredients; flour milled from their own wheat, kindling ready to alight the wood fired oven in the centre of the house, and of course all the implements and utensils necessary.  Let’s not forget the three o’clock in the morning start so the bread was ready for the family in the morning, and for the week ahead.  It does indeed take a village! 

Recently I was talking to someone about leadership and how our leadership style evolves as we learn more about ourselves, and as we get comfortable about who we are and what we offer.  It develops, as we remove parts of our leadership toolkit that no longer serve others or ourselves, whilst adding other things to the toolkit as we develop our skills and our style. As we become more comfortable with who we are and as we work out what works best, our leadership style improves.  I think this is very much like sourdough.  You have to take out the bits that are no longer needed, the extra bit on top that can be discarded, and add more flour and water to get a better-quality sourdough.  You are building on it over time, while also clearing it out.  It is constantly evolving and improving, just like leaders. 

I haven’t gone back to sourdough.    However, I am still adapting recipes to suit what ingredients I have, and what I feel like.  A little it of this, and a little bit of that works for me.

Rita Cincotta writes, mentors, and speaks on individual and team performance, leadership development, resilience and new ways of working. She works with organisations to develop human centred solutions that help people and businesses to thrive.