Digging up old posts

Later in the summer I'll be offering some bread-making courses, and as part of that I've been excavating part of my personal baking history. Today, that was the story of how I came by one of my sourdough starters, the 100-year old Tuscan pasta madre. I snapped this portrait this morning.

A few observations:

• In the end, I don't think I did write much more about the class I attended. At least, I haven't found any later posts, but there are scads that I still need to bring in here.¹
• It pleases me that, having said there ought to be more pomp about handing over the pasta madre to new caretakers, I started to do that in my own classes several years later without, I believe, having thought consciously about it.
• Is it right to refer to it as my starter? On the one hand, I was entrusted with its safekeeping, which I have done for almost a decade. On the other, by now the population has surely evolved from its state when I received it. On balance, I believe it is now mine, although I am also happy to share its history.