A sourdough starter is the secret behind this crusty, delicious olive bread. But you’ll have to be truly committed to try it at home: It takes 10 to 12 days from start to finish and demands attention every day.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

After reader Tony Marro attended Farm Fresh’s Wintertime Farmers’ Market at the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, he noted that the olive bread from Seven Stars Bakery may have been the best bread he’d ever had. He thought it should be considered for the Chef’s Secret feature.

I couldn’t agree more, even if does take 10 to 12 days to make. Patience is a virtue, after all.

For more than eight years now, many of us have admired what Lynn and Jim Williams have done at their Seven Stars Bakery. From our first meeting at their Hope Street bakery back in 2001, their passion for producing an artisan product hasn’t waned even with the arrival of two children and two more locations. The latest bakery/cafe just opened at Rumford Center in East Providence. This space has condos and office space and is a reuse of the plant where they made Rumford baking powder.

Seven Stars has shared recipes before and had no problem sharing this one. But bread maker Jim Williams warned that making it requires a sourdough yeast starter. This is where the patience comes in. But it’s also why Seven Stars bread is so darn fine.

A starter is a batter that you build a bit each day. Williams’ is a mixture of all purpose flour, wheat flour and water.

He explained that when establishing a sourdough starter, he is creating the culture by pulling yeast from the air. Think red wine and how the yeast ferments from the skins.

By letting it rest in the right conditions, here that means temperature and time, it ferments and becomes foamy.

“Every day the starter will become more active and bubbly. It’ll smell yeasty and eventually alcoholic,” he explained.

A portion of it is removed the next day and added to fresh water and flour. And so the cycle goes for nine or 10 days. Each day you’ll get a little more activity on the mixture.

That’s the challenge of the recipe, being committed to seeing it through.

This is how bread was made before commercial yeast. The starter is a natural leavening agent built from the ground up.

“Gradually, the sourdough will get stronger and be able to raise bread dough,” he said. “Ideally, we want a nice, acidic aroma and flavor. This is what makes good sourdough bread.”

The good news is that once you make the sourdough starter, called Liquid Levian, you can keep some in your fridge and make the dough again and again. You just have to refresh it weekly by taking part of it and adding it to fresh flour and water. Williams offers the measures. You just discard the extra starter.

You need a digital scale to weigh everything out but haven’t you been meaning to get one anyone? It really is the only way to measure for baking.

A baking stone, we call it a pizza brick in our house, is also needed. But again you should have one to make your own wonderful homemade pizza. They are inexpensive and sold at stores like Bed, Bath and Beyond.

So doesn’t all this make you want to give it a shot?

Jim Williams isn’t just a great baker, he’s a fine teacher and he’s taken us through things step by step and shared a detailed recipe. He also took the time to be filmed for a video making the bread on projo.com/food which is a must to watch for those ready to dive in to become a bread maker.

Read his advice and some details before starting.

“Everything about making bread revolves around timing and temperature. They are related and dependent on each other. If the starter is not progressing at the prescribed rate, chances are good the temperature is either too high or too low. Adjust as necessary.

“Then perpetuate it. Take a piece from the day before and add water and flour to refresh it.

“Ideally, we want to use organic flour for the first couple of days at least. Due to the processing of conventional wheat, organic flour will contain more natural yeast and bacteria, which will help create the culture.”

Now be careful out there.

gciampa@projo.com