Swash Labs has a secret menu. Well, okay, maybe not so secret. If you’ve ever taken the time to read the copy on our new website (pretty nice, huh?), particularly our creative s ervices section, you know what’s up. We are the dreamers of dreams, the makers of beautiful design, the writers of some pretty sweet stories, and... the bakers of delicious sourdough bread.

One of the reasons I am posting this is because I want us to have a permanent place to reference our sourdough notes. It'll also be a good spot to send people to when we share the love (shoutout to all our new starter parents out there). If you have stumbled across this and happen to be embarking on a new and exciting sourdough journey, these helpful hints will guide you on your path to becoming a sourdough master like our Art Director, Joan.*

Once you’ve got that little jar of baby bread juice, here’s how you keep it healthy. Like Diana pointed out in her most recent blog post, you can keep your starter going forever if you try hard enough!

How to Sourdough:

Feed your sourdough starter with ½ cup flour and ⅓ cup room-temp water every twelve hours or so. (When it isn’t chillin’ in the fridge.)
When more than half your jar is full (oh yeah, keep it in a big mason jar, will ya?), throw out the excess OR make some awesome crackers or biscuits with it.
If you want to give that li’l baby a special treat, throw in some rye flour. It makes it bubble more, and is good for a boost especially if your starter is getting wimpy.
Pull the starter you’ll use for your bread dough in between feedings when it’s all proofed and bubbly.

Here is the deliciously simple recipe we generally use. It's great for beginning sourdough nerds. While it calls for several different fancy flours, you can use regular or bread flour and that will work fine too.

So, psst. Hey kid. Want some sourdough starter? I know some badass ladies who can hook it up. Stay tuned, because it’s very likely my next post will involve a super special recipe that pairs perfectly with a fresh baked loaf of sourdough...