Making Sourdough With Geographic Atrophy

After 10-plus years of living with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) my condition progressed to geographic atrophy (GA). As my symptoms progressed, I gave up my hobbies 1 by 1. My vision was so blurry it felt impossible to continue sewing and doing the needle crafts I loved.

Toward the end of last year I realized how much I missed my hobbies. I didn’t want to pursue my old hobbies. It was time to try something new — but what?

Healing my gut with probiotics

After learning I had H. pylori and a probable ulcer, I happened upon an article about sourdough bread. I love sourdough, but I had no idea how healthy it was for you, especially the gut. The fermentation process results in a good-for-you loaf of bread, plus the benefits of natural probiotics.¹

After taking 3 high-powered antibiotics, my tummy needed healing. My husband gave me cash for Christmas, so I decided to purchase the supplies needed to make sourdough. There are some great books out there which do me no good at all. I can only read digital material that I can download to my iPad.

I scoured the internet for how-to videos. I literally watched dozens of often conflicting videos on YouTube.

Sourdough starter shenanigans

The first step to making sourdough is making a starter. I ordered a dehydrated starter from Amazon. It arrived with tiny print instructions that are impossible to read with GA. I took photos of the instructions so I could increase the size until I could read them.

Modern-day makers of sourdough weigh every ingredient in grams. I pulled my old kitchen scale out and started measuring flour and water. Only after everything was mixed did I notice I was weighing it all in ounces. That will never do, according to the new guidelines.

The instructions stated I should have a thick, muffin-like batter. I added flour slowly until I got it thickened up. I decided I needed a new talking kitchen scale and with a bright display. Living in my rural home, this necessitated not 1 but 3 tries to get a scale that fit my needs. By this time, my starter was happily bubbling and growing like mad.

I wonder how the women crossing the country by wagon train ever managed to make a loaf of bread.

Making bread and enjoying life

Making sourdough is not for the faint of heart. It’s probably not recommended for the "vision impaired" as I refer to myself. Never mind all that. I was, and am, determined to make bread.

Confident after watching all those videos and buying $400 of must-have utensils, I made my first loaf.

With the bread baking and soup in the crockpot, I invited my brother and sister over for lunch. Wouldn’t you know it? Rather than the beautiful artisan bread depicted in pictures, I made one closely resembling a hockey puck. We ate the whole loaf anyway.

I have a few loaves under my belt by now and have yet to make a decent loaf. I haven’t decided yet how I will monitor the starter for mold.

I may have GA, but with God’s help and lots of practice, I will make bread and enjoy my life.