A Quick History of Sourdough

Sourdough is the oldest and most original form of leavened bread. The oldest recorded use of sourdough is from the Ancient Egyptian civilizations. It was probably discovered, as most things are, by accident. If you mix any ground-up grain with a liquid, such as water or milk, and let it sit in the open air at room temperature, wild yeast and bacteria in the air will settle in the mix, eat the natural sugars, and convert them into lactic (and other) acids, which give it a sour flavor. They also give off alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide or gas is what will cause the bread to rise. When worked into a bread dough, the bubbles get trapped into the structure of the bread, and those are the little holes (the crumb) that you see. 

Where do the bacteria in the starter come from? The flour that you use to refresh your sourdough starter is a major influence on the kind of bacteria that colonize inside it. Make sure to use a good quality flour. We suggest King Arthur Bread Flour, which can be found at most grocery stores and BJ’s in large quantities. You will also notice on the bread formula that the measurements are in grams and pounds. If you do not have a kitchen scale, you can convert the grams to cups/tablespoons, but the measurements will not be as accurate.