Mr. Pollan can sometimes sound bossy. “Sourdough is the proper way to make bread,” he said in one segment.

Image The comedian Tom Papa and his sourdough starter. Credit... Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times

It is certainly a simple way to make bread, at least once you have a starter up and going, though the process takes time, because the wild yeast in a sourdough starter is less vigorous than its commercial counterparts. Make bread with a sourdough starter, and the dough rises slowly as the starter ferments and changes, and as it reacts to all manner of factors, like flour type, air temperature, humidity and altitude.

A baker can react to those factors with science or conviction. Erika Szymanski, an American doctoral student at the University of Otago, in New Zealand, has a master’s degree in microbiology and uses her sourdough regularly, for pancakes, skillet breads and rye loaves alike. But she is hardly doctrinaire about its care.

“Sourdough is alive, and so are we,” she said. “The whole deal, I think, has to be about figuring out a relationship that works for both parties. And if it’s unconventional, whose business is it to replace love with fear and claim that you’re doing it wrong?”

Start at the top, then. See if you can’t get some starter from someone. Anyone who has one will be glad to part with a cup or so, because to maintain its balance and size, you need to use or discard part of the starter each time you feed it.

Or buy some — sourdough starters have started to show up at farmers’ markets and on Etsy. The website Cultures for Health sells one. So does King Arthur Flour. Katie Walker, a spokeswoman for the company, said sales of starter are up for the company, and on track to be 20 percent higher than last year. “How to Make Your Own Sourdough Starter,” she added, is King Arthur’s top-performing blog post.

So you might try making a starter yourself, combining a cup of water and a cup of flour in a covered bowl and allowing it to sit at room temperature until it begins to bubble and bloom. You can speed the process with grapes, as the baker Nancy Silverton advised years ago on a Julia Child television show.