Sourdough Sociologists

Alongside my research on spatial inequality, health, and social structure, I co-run a creative project called Sourdough Sociologists — a small public-facing space where two Ph.D. students explore the overlap between fermentation and academic life.

This isn’t a hobby born of boredom. It’s a reflection on process.

Sourdough, like scholarship, is slow. It requires care, calibration, revision, and a willingness to sit with uncertainty. For a long stretch, nothing appears to be happening — and then suddenly, everything is.

You can follow along on instagram at @SourdoughSociologists.

Because fermentation is a lesson in structure.

Starters respond to environment.
Dough responds to handling.
Time reshapes texture.

Growth is invisible before it is visible.

Those principles resonate deeply with the work of research:

• Drafts collapse before they cohere.
• Models fail before they stabilize.
• Ideas require rest before they rise.
• Community strengthens the outcome.
   

Sourdough Sociologists uses humor and baking to reflect on the intellectual and emotional labor of graduate school — not as complaint, but as acknowledgment of process.

Sourdough

• Starter maintenance, troubleshooting, and bake experiments
• Process videos: feeding, shaping, scoring, and the inevitable over-proof
• Reflections on texture, timing, and technique
• Discard recipes and small kitchen wins
   

Sociology

• Honest reflections on Ph.D. life and research culture
• Conference moments (ASA, PAA, working groups, etc.)
• Writing process realities — drafts, revisions, and model meltdowns
• Public-facing conversations about higher education and academic labor
   

Where They Intersect

• Fermentation as metaphor for intellectual growth
• Slowness, iteration, and trust in invisible processes
• Environment, structure, and how context shapes outcomes (yes, even bread)
• Community — because both starters and scholars thrive when shared
   

It’s about dough.
It’s about discipline.
It’s about the strange overlap between gluten development and idea development.

Academic culture often rewards output and speed.
Fermentation rewards patience and attention.

Sourdough Sociologists is a small counterbalance — a place that treats “waiting” not as failure, but as part of the method.

You can follow along on instagram at @SourdoughSociologists.