My spouse and I have avoided gluten for a few years for reasons which mostly resolved recently. So last month I wrote with delight about sourdough starter, as I pictured how we’d be eating homemade, whole-wheat, wholesome sourdough on the regular. All the plastic bags we’d never bring into the house! All the labels I wouldn’t have to read! All the money we’d save!

Each day my jar of sourdough discard got fuller. I don’t like to compost it, because I like to use it for something. But we don’t need to eat cookies and crackers, especially once the sourdough starter is ready and we can bake beautiful loaves as often as we want. Some of my discard recipes turned out great (especially pizza) but others eventually went to the chickens anyway (like the cookies). So my hopes for this simpler food pattern without trash/waste really didn’t pan out.

It got me thinking about the transfiguration story:

Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.  Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.  Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not realizing what he was saying.  (Luke 9:28b-33)

Like Peter, I get caught up in the good moments and want them to last forever: staying too late at a social gathering, losing sleep to finish a great book or show, or building a whole fantasy around sourdough! Plenty of wonderful things are fleeting – and are meant to be. The moments count. Those moments of joy can simply be sufficient. We can savor gifts with open hands, relaxed minds, content hearts. When I hold too tightly to joy, I might miss it in the moment as I focus on its future.

I face this temptation in my kitchen beyond sourdough. I get started on one or two projects and suddenly I’m working on four simultaneously. I was grooving with the process, then saw how much more was ripe and ready, and almost beyond my conscious control I’ve got carrots roasting, cauliflower steaming, blueberry crisp baking and pizza on the grill. Better call friends to help eat it all.

Abundance can be a chore! The only times you’ll find my parents awake at 2:00 in the morning are a late flight or train, or when tomatoes are ripe. Juice, vegetable soup, stewed, salsa, paste, sauce — they only make one recipe at a time, but canning takes hours!

How are you savoring the joys of this summer? Letting them speak to you, like Jesus’ transfiguration might have spoken to Peter, John and James? Pausing to listen to joys’ wisdom rather than rushing to make more of it, or make sure it lasts, or even looking away to call a friend to share it?

When the hummingbird comes to the bush next time, don’t pick up your phone to take a photo. Just watch. Breathe. Smile.

Sourdough Pizza

If you’ve got sourdough starter or discard at your house, turn it into pizza. We bake each crust about six minutes in our oven (flipping halfway through), then move it to the grill for a few minutes. Flip, add toppings and finish grilling. Almost everything tastes better after grilling! Still, pizza can be delicious without that.

This method means you have to start a couple days before you want to eat pizza. It’s not a good approach for many of us! I don’t usually like to plan that far ahead. But if you’re already making sourdough, it’s a delicious way to use the discard.

Ingredients:

• ⅓ cup (100 g) sourdough starter discard (if using active starter, reduce to ¼ cup/50 g)
• 2 teaspoons (10 g) fine sea salt (a little less if using table salt, a little more if using larger sea salt – all 10 grams, though)
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) olive oil
• ⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon (50 g) whole wheat flour
• 3 ¾ cups (450 g) all-purpose flour (bread flour or 00 flour can be used)
• 1 ⅓ cups + 1 teaspoon (325 g) water 

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients. Stretch and fold the dough every 30 minutes, two to four times, then leave to ferment all day or overnight at room temperature.
2. Then, shape the dough into balls a little larger than your fist. Refrigerate for eight to twelve hours (or up to three days).
3. Get the dough out of the fridge one to two hours before you want to bake it. Knead gently and roll to desired shape and thickness.
4. Preheat oven to 450°F–550°F (230°C–290°C) with a pizza stone or cast iron skillet for at least 45 minutes. Bake thin-crust pizzas for five to seven minutes until blistered. Bake longer for thicker crusts. Flip partway through and add toppings – then broil, if that’s an option. Or bake fewer minutes and transfer to a grill to finish.

You can freeze portioned dough balls for up to one week; thaw in the refrigerator before use.