When I was researching my novel, not only did I trace my ancestral roots, but I fell in love with everything Italy. That was the start of watching TV shows in Italian. Those shows, in turn, introduced me to new dishes I never heard of. Throw X/Twitter in for good measure and – well let’s just say my recipe collection is expanding as rapidly as my waistline.

One Sicilian dish that was entirely new to me was Pasta alla Norma. I bought a local eggplant this week and that’s what we’re doing for dinner tonight. My dinner plans, however, are not what this post is about. It’s about something I have sitting in my kitchen: the Lievito Madre.

Somewhere I saw a video of someone mixing and baking bread with something by that name, a name which I found out means Yeast Mother. I was intrigued. After doing some research, I found out it was a traditional Italian sourdough starter.

Here are my two sourdough starters. The one on the left is a traditional starter. I call it The Monster. It needs to eat twice a day, it rises quickly, and it’s been around for a few years now. The one on the right, submerged in water is the lievito madre.

Yes, it seemed odd to me that you stick it in water, but when in Rome… or when one is pretending to be in Rome, I guess. The Italian one is at a lower hydration level – 50% as opposed to the regular one which is 100%. Because of the whole ‘being submerged’ part, it produces a milder, less tangy flavor and is sweeter than the regular one. Or so they say. I’m only on Day One of making this new type of starter. Stay tuned for when I report back on how it turned out.