Jake Gyllenhaal whispering about his sourdough starter is our kind of ASMR

When we said we wanted Jake Gyllenhaal to whisper sweet nothings in our ear we didn't expect a baking lesson, but who are we to complain? It's fitting, anyway: The ubiquitous, fermented bread is now one of the few things that feel more beloved than the Nightcrawler and Brokeback Mountain actor, surging to the top of search results and causing flour shortages across the nation.

If you happen to be new to the sourdough fold and can't figure out why your bread starter isn't rising, Gyllenhaal has a few pointers for you, delivered in hushed tones during a Late Show interview with Stephen Colbert this week. Lesson one? Keep your voice down, apparently: "Shhhhh, it needs to rest," he explains to a very amused Colbert before shushing him again like some kind of long-haired ASMR god.

His second lesson? It's okay to speak a little louder if your sourdough starter is in a deep sleep. (Sounds like science to us.)

"As my hair's grown longer and as I've sort of slowly inched into the hipster world, I've found myself falling in love with sourdough," he explains. "Actually, I have nothing to do, and so I have a good friend who's a baker in San Francisco—he has an amazing bakery called The Mill—and we were talking, and I hate this but I was like, 'Can you teach me how to do a sourdough starter?' and so off I went."

That friend, Josey Baker, mailed Gyllenhaal a sourdough starter; it didn't totally work, but was improved with a little rye flour, and yours can be, too. Other notes from the Donnie Darko star? Your starter should smell a little like vinegar, and be sure to take the time to let your levain or pre-ferment dough rest for as long as 24 hours.

Watch this interview clip for Gyllenhaal sourdough content, words on his recent Stephen Sondheim tribute and more.