Name: Sourdough Starter and Levain
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 7200 min
Yield: 1 starter, for up to 4 doughs

Sourdough Starter

Levain

Afro-Honduran Bryan Ford found his calling when he changed careers from CPA to baker. Inspired by his at-home baker mother, he pursued his passion for artisanal sweet and savory goods, becoming an internet sensation, a best-selling author, and working in some of the most prestigious bakeries in America.

Bryan Ford

You will see in my recipes that I use the same levain build, or a slightly modified version of it, when I mix bread. Whether the final bread is enriched, sweet, or rustic, I find this levain build to work just fine. There are many, many ways to build a levain but I believe using this one build makes life at home easy.

Sourdough Starter and Levain

Meet The Creator

Some recipes become staples in your home because of their reliability. Simple to make, delicious, and just as good the next day. This meal is just that for

Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines: Season 3, Episode 5

In busy seasons, one thing that I always look forward to is a slow Sunday at home with my family. For us, that can look like spending some time in the garden,

Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines: Season 3, Episode 1

I love to eat all kinds of food, but in all honesty if you told me I could have only one thing every day for the rest of my life, it would be mac and cheese. I realize this is exactly the choice that many eight-year-olds I know would make, and I’m okay with that. I first had this recipe, which has become my favorite, at my friend Becki’s house. Her family has become a part of our own, and she knows just how much I love mac and cheese. It has become a tradition of ours that every time we join her family for dinner at their house, she makes this side for us. It’s simple and creamy enough to please all the kids, while the blend of cheeses and optional crispy panko topping makes it feel interesting to adults. Since I started making this recipe for my own family, my favorite things to pair it with are Almond Chicken Tenderloins (page 211) or Meat Loaf (page 259).

Becki's Mac and Cheese

When it comes to choosing a rug, you have a lot of options. Something that can help to point you in the right direction is knowing the design style or styles

Rug Style Guide

I had a version of this citrus guacamole at a restaurant that is no longer open, and it was so delicious that I created my own version. The pop of citrus in your mouth is unexpected and pairs beautifully with the rich butteriness of avocados. The flavors keep building as you eat it. You can use oranges, grapefruits, or whatever your favorite citrus fruit is! I’m sure you’ll love this recipe so much it will become your go-to guac recipe.

Citrus Guacamole

"An easy way to gather vegetables for this recipe is to keep a baggie in the freezer and whenever you have leftover vegetables you can just toss them in. That way, as soon as you cook a recipe that leaves you with chicken bones, you have what you need to make the stock—you can just put it all in a large pot on the stove and let it simmer. I always try to make as much of this stock as possible so that I can freeze at least half the batch. There is satisfaction in using every last bit of food you can, and knowing that nothing is going to waste." – Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Table, Volume 3

Homemade Chicken Stock

I love a one-pot meal that also feels extra-special, and paella makes that kind of meal. This Spanish dish of rice, vegetables and meat or seafood packs flavor and simplicity into one skillet. A large pan of paella is festive, colorful and serves a crowd — it’s just right for a celebratory dinner with friends and family. Making the vegetable-and-aromatic sofrito is a key step in cooking paella and acts as the dish’s flavor base. I like a combination of mussels, shrimp and lobster tails in the seafood version of the dish, but you can easily tailor it to your favorite types of seafood.

Elizabeth Poett's Seafood and Asparagus Paella

Seafood and Asparagus Paella

As much as I enjoy doing my own thing in the kitchen, I love when the kids are happy to jump in and help me make a meal. In this episode, I have a couple of

Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines: Episode 4

Twenty years ago this May, I married the love of my life. Twenty years. It doesn’t even make sense. Just yesterday, I was on one knee in a jewelry store outside Archer City, Texas, asking Jo to marry me.

A graphic that says "Magnolia Journal | A Note from Chip on Savor | By Chip Gaines."

A Note from Chip on Savor

Home matters. For Chip and me, there is nothing more valuable or essential to our well-being than the way our family feels when we are home. This philosophy

Introducing: Hotel 1928

Friendsgiving Casserole is one of my kid’s favorite dishes and a go-to of mine when I want to take dinner to a new mother or a family who could use a hot meal—mostly because it’s easy to love, even for the pickiest eaters.

Friendsgiving Casserole Recipe

Do you like happiness? If you don’t, then this recipe isn’t for you. But if you do, then let’s make my macaroni and cheese together. This is the dish that put me on the map. It’s the one everyone talks about and the one that every person who comes over for dinner begs me to make. And the beauty is, it’s so simple. You’ll have friends begging you for this recipe.

Macaroni and Cheese

I wanted you to get a behind-the-scenes look into how each new season comes together at the Silos. I hope you can visit us soon and see it for yourself, but if you can't make it to Waco—I hope you enjoy this glimpse into how the magic unfolds at the shop!

Watch How Our Fall Visual Displays Came Together at Magnolia Market

I love peaches! My godmother came for a visit on the ranch recently and reminded me about this classic dish. It is such a simple and wonderful way to enjoy summer fruit when it is abundant and at peak flavor. One of my favorite things about making a buckle is the way the batter buckles over and around the fruit as it bakes, making the most scrumptious, chewy, buttery top layer.

Elizabeth Poett's Peach Buckle with Homemade Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream

Peach Buckle with Homemade Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream

Even though pot roasts are a well-known dish in southern culture, I feel there are different variations of the slow-cooked meat dish that span through the country as a whole, and even globally. There’s something really special about a slow-roasted meat that falls off the bone, it really says “made with love,” and it’s an easy dish, especially for family dinners. For me, pot roasts invoke memories of Sunday family dinners. We would rotate houses and have everyone’s unique pot roast. I remember a big dish at the center of the table with a beautiful piece of meat and my mom cutting chunks away. Vegetables and gravy were always my favorite. I would reach out and soak a roll in the delicious gravy!

Charles Hunter III's Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots

I tried crȇpes for the first time when I was in New York City for a college internship. One weekend, my roommate and I stumbled upon this crêpe shop. With

Magnolia Table with Joanna Gaines: Season 5, Episode 6

If you always walk by celery root in the grocery, unsure of what to do with it, do THIS. First, the method of salt-baking feels elevated but is super easy—anyone can do it. The presentation of cracking open the salt crust is fun and interactive. When it’s finished, the celery root slices beautifully and has a tender but firm texture. The addition of the sauce adds the perfect amount of salinity and umami to each bite of celery root. Bookmark this recipe for the sauce, because you can use it on roasted veggies or meat dishes, too!

Katie Button's Salt-Baked Celery Root with Preserved Lemons and Capers

Salt-Baked Celery Root with Preserved Lemons and Capers

During strawberry season, I often make strawberry shortcakes around the same time that I make my classic strawberry jam to put up for the year, because I like to use the fresh jam in place of fresh strawberries in this classic dessert. The warm jam soaks into the biscuits, helping hold the two sides of the cakes together, and it also gives the dessert a sweet, decadent flavor. (If you’re not making your own strawberry jam, buy a good-quality jam that has a bright, fresh flavor and will loosen up nicely when you heat it.) These shortcakes are best eaten warm, so if you’re planning ahead, steep and chill the whipped cream ahead of time, and reheat your jam so it is warmed through and the cream is cold enough to whip right when the biscuits come out of the oven.

Strawberry Shortcake

After 20 years of putting in offers to buy the castle and one year of renovation, we are thrilled to share the reveal of this century-old property in the

The Castle: Exteriors and Living Spaces

When we were dating, Chip would often say that there are about five foods that he really, really loves, and one of them is scalloped potatoes. The sliced potatoes make this a pretty dish, and the cream and cheese mixture tastes like heaven. When we serve steak for dinner and I don’t have much time for sides, I’ll make mashed potatoes, but anytime I have a few extra minutes, I like to make this one especially for Chip.