How to Get Started Making Your Own Delicious Bread and other Pastries
Is there anyone who doesn’t like sourdough bread, with its signature tangy flavor and chewy, yet crisp crust? For many, it’s one of the wonders of the natural world, reinforcing the belief that most good things simply take time. While it’s possible to bake an acceptable loaf of sourdough within about 12 hours of starting the process, it’s commonly understood that creating a new and mature sourdough “starter” typically takes at least a couple of weeks.
What is sourdough? How does it work? How was is first discovered?
What Is Sourdough?
Sourdough, while most often associated with breads, involves a process whereby some type of flour is infused with naturally yeast and bacteria (called lactobacillus) to create fermentation, which subsequently causes the dough to rise or be “leavened.” During the fermentation process, the dough also produces lactic acid, which gives the bread a distinctly sour taste (much like sour milk).
As a general rule, bakers do not use all of the dough in a sourdough ball but keep and “feed” some portion of the dough, which perpetuates the strain. Using this approach, sourdoughs have been maintained for hundreds of years. As a general rule, bakers will regularly “feed” a sourdough ball, adding equal parts water and flour to the existing starter or dough ball.
What Are the Known Origins of Sourdough?
Sourdough appears to have been around almost as long as humans have made and consumed bread. In 2019, entrepreneur Seamus Blackley created a sourdough bread using a 4,500-year-old strain of yeast found on some Egyptian pottery. Archaeologists working in Switzerland found sourdough bread dating back to 3700 BCE. Most scientists believe that the sourdough process evolved in much the same way that the development of fermented beverages developed. Wild yeasts that float in the air landed on stores of milled grains, which somehow became wet and, at the right temperatures, chemically reacted in the fermentation process.
The Unique History of Sourdough in the United States
It’s commonly agreed that French bakers introduced the concept of “sourdough” to Californians during the Gold Rush of 1848. In fact, the Boudin Bakery in San Francisco, opened for business in 1849, boasts that its original “mother dough” is still being used today.
The popularity of sourdough bread also accompanied the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. Unlike San Francisco, where yeast and baking soda were relatively abundant sources for leavening dough, Alaska offered only the wild yeasts. Hardy settlers and miners relied heavily on bread for sustenance, specifically the sourdough bread that came from the wild yeast. Many would carry a flour sponge in a pouch around their neck or on their belt, gathering the wild yeast to create a starter. For that reason, the term “sourdoughs” became a common moniker for Klondike prospectors and Alaskans in general.
