Sourdough does not have to take over your life. Here is how to fit a great loaf into a normal one.
Bread baking gets mythologized into a full-time hobby, but a good loaf mostly bakes itself while you do other things. The active work -- mixing, a few folds -- adds up to maybe twenty minutes. The rest is waiting, and waiting is free.
The key is to work with the fridge instead of against it. Mix in the evening, fold a few times, then let the dough proof slowly overnight in the cold. In the morning you shape and bake. The schedule bends around your life rather than the other way around.
Your first loaves will be ugly and delicious, which is the correct order of priorities. Flavor comes from time and a hot oven; looks come from practice. Bake a loaf a week and within a month you will have bread you are proud to put on the table.
