For the past three or so years, we’ve been traveling around with Wilson, a sourdough starter that we made during lockdown in Malaysia (more on that here). We did name him after the volleyball in Cast Away… He’s been to six continents and has traveled to over twenty-five countries! We’ve picked up a couple of recipes that we loved that we want to share! Here is a list of our favorite sourdough recipes:

• Chocolate Cake: This makes such a rich and moist cake! We had tons of mangoes so I made a mango buttercream frosting to go with it. So fluffy and moist, I thought it was the perfect chocolate cake; not too dense and super fluffy. You can find the recipe here.

• Bread: The classic sourdough recipe that comes to mind when someone says 'sourdough', this recipe is super simple and delicious! Although the simple bread is delicious, we love adding a bit of flavor. Some of our favorites are curry and cracked pepper & parmesan Bread. These are absolutely delicious!

• Pizza: A recipe we have made multiple times and love every time! There are two versions that we love and they are both amazing!

  • Version 1: The typical pizza with dough and the toppings cooked in the oven with the pizza.

  • Version 2: This is simply the sourdough discard spread on a cast-iron skillet, then put in the oven. After it’s baked, you put the toppings on. You can find the recipe here.

• Bread Knots: The perfect travel-day snack! There are multiple different flavors and plain is great too, but our favorite is jam and cheese, which is such a good combo in these knots!

• Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies: Absolutely delicious! Keep in mind that the cookie dough does have to be made a couple of days before to let it rise. This is a perfect recipe if you’re looking for good chocolate chip oat cookies with sourdough!

• Focaccia: A delicious Italian dish, this is one of my personal favorites! The amount of different flavors and toppings that you can put on it is so cool! The crisp on the edge of the focaccia is amazing!

• Pot Pie: Mmmm; delicious vegetable and chicken filling topped with sourdough biscuits! What more could you want? The biscuits are so light and buttery, with the delicious filling, it’s such a good dish! You can find the recipe here.

• Bagels: Bake a batch of sourdough bagels, get some smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers, and dill and you have the perfect lunch! A family favorite for birthdays, we’ve made bagels many times. But we never get tired of it!

• Cinnamon Rolls: Such a delicious dessert, sourdough cinnamon rolls are a fun combination of little bit of sour and a lot of sweet but in a perfect amount. Definitely a must with sourdough!

This is only a handful of the many things we have made with Wilson! If you ever do try out sourdough cooking/baking, here are a few tips!

• It doesn’t need to be fed every day. You can leave it in the fridge and it’ll be just fine! There are some places where they have no oven and we don’t use Wilson, but he’s totally fine to just sit in a fridge without any feeding or using. This might be one of the largest misconceptions that people have about sourdough, as they think it’s difficult to maintain it, but it’s actually super easy.

• When traveling by plane, transfer the sourdough into a smaller container less than 100ml. As a backup, dry out a thin layer of it on a plate, crush it up, and put it into a small ziplock bag. That way, if they take your active sourdough, you have a backup! To reactivate it, simply place it in a container, add water and flour, and there you have it. The only country that we couldn’t take Wilson to was Australia, on our second time around.

Some of the sourdough websites we use and recommend are below (these are also great to get inspired with new recipes!)

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/

https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/

https://www.theclevercarrot.com/

https://littlespoonfarm.com/

Wilson has been such fun to have throughout our travels! It’s great to experiment with different recipes and bread flavors based on the place we’re in.