05/23/2026
Our Pana Madre (stiff starter) hasn’t been where we needed it to be in the past few weeks, which meant going back to the textbooks, breaking things down, and really understanding what went wrong.
Sourdough viennoiserie is a living system that isn’t very forgiving. It demands precision in the feed schedule, in timing, in the environment it’s fermenting in. All in service of strengthening the yeast while keeping the lactobacillus (acidity) in its place.
The way I explained it to the team: the yeast population in our pana madre are the indigenous ones. They are the foundation, the life force, the ones responsible for the lift, structure, and performance of our final product. The lactobacillus acid (LaB), is the colonizer. If we miss the mark on our feeds or, something minor affects our typical feed schedule, LaB takes over the environment and shifts the balance in a way that works against us.
… and thats exactly what we’ve been seeing lately. Sooooo, this week we got to work: strippin’ the process back, rebuilding our pana madre baddie, feeding it with intention, creating solid conditions for the yeast to reclaim its role and reestablish balance in the system.
For our croissants we want yeast strength, not strong acidity. We want a yeast culture that can perform to the best of its ability!
What we do here is a true science, daily. We’re always learning and tightening up our techniques. Honestly, it is hella badass. Toot toot to our fire-ass bake squad!
Send some good juju that our yeast culture reclaims its space in the Pana Madre within the coming weeks 🙏🏿🙏🏾🙏🏽🙏🏼🙏🏻🙏
♥️ Melanie