“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”
― Niels Bohr

I began my sourdough journey at the beginning of the year. My first loaf was okay but not great. My second loaf, a Honey Oatmeal sourdough recipe, was quite good. I have stuck with that recipe and had consistently good results. I started occasionally adding Asiago cheese as an inclusion in this recipe and it is absolutely delicious. I was feeling very confidently competent at sourdough, regardless of still being relatively new at it.

I started making two loaves at a time because really, it takes 2 days to make it whether I am making one loaf or two, so I might as well. I got complacent with watching my dough in the bulk fermentation stage because, you know, I have a good handle on it, everything will be fine. Well, (and please read this with Morgan Freeman’s voice) “Everything was not fine.”

Last night I pulled my big bowl of dough out from where I had it bulk fermenting and instead of the beautiful raised dough ready for shaping that I am so used to seeing, I saw a dropped, sticky mess. Definitely over proofed. Okay, no big deal, I can still make this work. I dumped it onto the flour-dusted counter and started the shaping process. Only, it wasn’t shaping. It was sticky and sloppy and….well, I was just making a mess.

Sometimes even with our best efforts, we get into messes. I have gotten myself into plenty. But you know what? God is always there, waiting to help me out of them. God isn’t afraid of your mess. He’s bigger than your problems and He can turn your mess into something beautiful.

That over proofed dough? Once I let go and stopped trying to shape it into what I thought it should be, it made absolutely delightful focaccia.