Sourdough Baking, Mr. Bubbles & Rekindled Love for the Kitchen

A Starter that Started It All

It began with curiosity — a simple desire to learn from another home baker who made sourdough look both magical and approachable. I remember carefully mixing flour and water, not realizing I was beginning

something that would rekindle my love for the kitchen and become part of my daily rhythm. In my journey of sourdough baking, Mr. Bubbles Love Kitchen has become an inspiring part.

My starter, affectionately named Mr. Bubbles, has been with me for two years and four months now — a quiet companion on the counter that rises, rests, and reminds me of patience.

A Return to Love and Creativity

Through countless loaves and experiments, sourdough has rekindled my love for baking and cooking. From crusty boules and soft toast bread to cookies, pancakes, and even English muffins — each new bake has been a lesson in care and creativity.

There’s something deeply grounding about it: watching the dough come flourish through time and nurture, the same way barakah multiplies through attention and gratitude.

Barakah in the Process

This journey has added a special kind of barakah to my home. Feeding Mr. Bubbles, shaping dough, and baking for my family have become small acts of service that ripple into something greater — nourishment, comfort, and connection. Each loaf reminds me that sustenance is not only what fills the body, but what strengthens our hearts and ties us to one another.

1. How It All Began

About two years ago, I was following a couple of bloggers on YouTube. I started to fall in love with the idea of creating things from scratch and what it would mean for my family. Sourdough was at the heart of this new creativity. I was amazed to learn what a starter does and that it can live for long periods of time. In addition, I was also really excited to learn about the added health benefits due to its fermentation process.

I recall my husband grabbing a loaf from the store so I could try it and see if I liked it. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to create a starter, I decided to purchase a mini-course from one of the bloggers. She was really good at walking me through her guide step by step, and I finally had a starter of my own.

I now know that nothing compares to the authentic taste of homemade sourdough bread. My first attempt at using my starter was to bake a sourdough boule.

Some of the challenges were:

If the stickiness of the dough was too much
If the gluten had developed well with the dough
If I measure correctly
If my was starter bubbly enough
Start and end time for fermentation
Patience for the lengthy fermentation
Why was the crust hard, and inside dense

I was surprised by how you can feel really full after eating your bread, compared to store-bought bread. That really brought home my determination to do better for my family.

Another surprise was the aroma that filled my house. It reminded me of back home. In the old neighborhood where my grandma lived, we used to pass by a few bakeries on our way there in the early morning. A smell of yeast and bread warmed my kitchen in those early cold November days.

Can smells transport you to different times? On that day and every time I bake with sourdough, my heart is warmed.

One day, while using the sourdough starter in a recipe, I recall my daughter asking me if we would name it. I recalled some folks do name their starters and get really fancy with it. I had not thought about it before, but when I looked down and saw how bubbly it was, I glanced back at my daughter and said… we shall name him Mr. Bubbles! I was then rewarded with her giggles.

2. Lessons Along the Way

Baking and cooking with sourdough is really a lifestyle choice. It takes part in your daily or weekly planning. It has taught me to think ahead in some aspects of cooking. For example, if my family wanted pizza one night and bagels for breakfast, I’ll need to start the ball rolling the day before. I like that it forces me to plan in that respect, have an organized shopping list for my husband.

There are definitely lessons in patience. You need to wait for the starter to be active. Then you need to ensure enough fermentation occurs for the added health benefits. I’ve started performing a series of gentle folds on the dough, where, after the first rest, I gently lift and fold it over itself from all four sides.

There’s no rush here — each fold helps strengthen the dough while keeping it soft and supple. This process helped me substitute for the mixer. And, it is really therapeutic! Letting the dough rest, then repeating the motions, can let you go about your day while checking on it every 30 minutes or an hour, until it’s really ready for the long fermentation.

I consider the dough a failure when it is no longer edible. What is fortunate with sourdough is that you are hardly faced with that decision. Even if something overferments and becomes too hard to eat, it can be toasted and crushed to use as breading for fried chicken.

For some time, I struggled with the hard crust and dense insides of a boule; I have since found that dough hydration and oven temperature play important roles in the result.

Baking and cooking with sourdough has slowed me down by making me think, plan, and enjoy. Planning helps ensure healthy food is available when needed. My family has benefited from the change in pace and from the planning.

It also allows us to spend more quality time together, even while baking and cooking in the kitchen. The barakah, blessings, in the time we spend and in their healthy constitutions bring me comfort.

3. Experimenting Beyond Bread

I’ve tried making pancakes, cookies, cakes, and different forms of bread. My family has fallen in love with sourdough just like I have.

There are many ups and downs in my cooking journey, and this has been most certainly a high that I’m enjoying. It really boosts your confidence to feel more capable with your family.

I’ve been trying to add ingredients to all that I’ve tried to make it my own. I want the smell of my baking to resemble that of ingredients from back home. The more Mediterranean, the better. I will be slowly sharing recipes on the Home with Barakah blog.

4. The Meaning of Barakah in Baking

Creating our meals from scratch and providing for our families are closely connected to the barakah that Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) bestows upon us. We are blessed with the ability to find all the ingredients we need, to have those who are willing to sample our cooking and baking, and with the time and energy to give to this purpose.

Serving your family is a form of worship that brings blessings, and it is highly emphasized in Islam.

{وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌۭ}

And ˹remember˺ when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more. But if you are ungrateful, surely My punishment is severe.’”

Abraham (14:7)— Dr. Mustafa Khattab, The Clear Quran

5. Encouragement for Readers

If you’re thinking about starting your own sourdough journey, I would advise you to just start. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Baking is a process, and you get better at it the more you practice it. I’ve got a video below of my initial journey, which I’ve used to encourage others to forge ahead.