An Introduction to Sourdough

You could say that I have a thing for bread. 

Real bread. 

The kind with a chewy, springy texture, with a little tang to it.  The kind that steals the show, with nothing more than a little sweet cream butter spread on top. 


















Since we started this journey into traditional foods, one of the first things I started doing was baking all of our bread from scratch, using a sourdough starter.  I was surprised at how easy it was to care for my sourdough starter, at how long sourdough bread stays fresh, and how quickly we all learned to love the sometimes mild, sometimes assertive tang of sourdough.  I found that with a little help from my bread machine, I was able to crank out loaves without over-taxing my time, and the pay-off has been tremendous:  fresh, delicious bread that is truly nourishing and life-giving.

Since then, I have given cups of sourdough away to friends and family and answered many questions about sourdough.  And while I am not an expert, I hope that my answers are useful for those starting out with sourdough.

What is sourdough?

Long before Louis Pasteur developed his germ theory, long before commercially prepared packages of yeast were available, traditional cultures leavened their dough with naturally-occurring wild yeasts.  These yeasts were captured very simply:  a bowl of flour mixed with water made a welcoming home for the wild yeasts and bacteria.  These yeasts and bacteria form a stable symbiotic culture, with the bacteria feeding on the sugars and the yeasts feeding on the by-products of the bacteria.  Since this culture's pH balance is slightly acidic, it can sit out at room temperature indefinitely without spoiling.  Once fermented and bubbly, this starter is then added to a batch of dough, and when kneaded through, lends the bread it's characteristic chewy texture and addictive sour tang. 

Sourdough is a living food, then.  You can see this in the bubbles that form when you feed your starter, in the rising of your dough, in the beautiful holes in your slice of bread.  And like all other living foods - it is a life-giving food.  When you make allow your breads to sour, to ferment, your grains become much more digestible.  Grains are typically high in anti-nutrients, such as phytic acids, but fermenting the grains breaks down these anti-nutrients.  Moreover, when you allow your grains to ferment, you are allowing them to be colonized by gut-building bacteria, by the famous lactobacillus bacteria family.  By taking the time to sour your grains, you are not just making delicious artisanal bread, you are actually baking something that will enhance your health.

Is sourdough traditional to the Middle East?

Yes!  While sourdough has a long tradition in many parts of the world, from eastern Europe to San Francisco, sourdough actually originated in ancient Egypt, around 1500 B.C.  Until commercial bakeries and yeasts became popular fifty years ago, all breads in Palestine were prepared at home and then baked in communal ovens.  These breads were leavened with a piece of reserved dough, leavened with wild yeast, saved from the last batch of bread, and then stored in bags of flour. My Palestinian grandmother's generation was the last to use this method consistently - and she baked her families bread without ever using packages of yeast to make their daily sourdough pita bread. 

How do I get my hands on a sourdough starter?

I haven't made my own sourdough starter, but you can read about how to do that here and here.  If you are fortunate enough to know someone who has some sourdough starter (I was), by all means, ask them to share a cup of sourdough starter with you. If you want to buy a starter, there are many online sources available, such as the King Arthur Flour starter that my friend so kindly gave me. 

How do I care for my sourdough starter?  Is it a lot of work? 

I get this question a lot.  Most people have bad memories of being given a batch of Amish Friendship bread starter, which quickly grew and grew and got out of control in their kitchen, until they gave up and threw the whole thing away (not that this happened to me). 

It's going to be okay.  I promise.  Your starter is not going to take over your kitchen.  It's not a pet that needs to be fed and walked twice a day.  Sourdough is very forgiving.  Sourdough can be very long-suffering.  It's more like an easy house plant. 

If you have an established sourdough starter, it is very to maintain.  If you are an avid baker, and you want an active starter at your fingertips all day long, every day, you can keep your sourdough starter out on your counter all day long, but then you will have to feed it daily.  If you are an occasional baker, you can keep your starter in the refrigerator and feed it at minimum every two weeks.  Every couple of weeks, pull it out of your fridge, pour off the greyish liquid that has pooled on top (or stir it in, it doesn't matter), and then feed your starter.  Let it sit on your counter until bubbly and then either use it, feed it again, or refrigerate it. 

 

How do I feed my sourdough starter?

I feed my starter with a combination of water and flour.  I simply stir in the following:

• 1 cup flour
• 2/3 cup water

Do I need to feed my starter before using it?

That depends on the recipe.  Generally speaking, if you want a nice, high rise, you should feed your starter at least once before baking your bread, especially if you are not going to include any other leavening agent in your recipe.  When I am planning on making bread, I get my starter out the day before and feed my starter two or three times, waiting a few hours to overnight between each feeding, to make sure that my starter is very active before I start baking my bread.  Other recipes, (think crackers and thin-crusted pizza) call for unfed starter, straight from the fridge.  The longer your starter has been in the fridge, the less active it will be, and the more feedings it may require to revive. 

Do I need to discard starter every time I feed my starter?

No, not necessarily.  I try to keep about 2-4 cups of sourdough starter on hand at any given time.  If my jar is getting too full, I usually scoop out a cup or two and make a batch of waffles, crackers, or crumpets.  You want to make sure that your jar stays about half empty so that it doesn't overflow while it is fermenting.  It is also a good idea to keep the ratio of starter to new flour relatively low so that your starter continues to be well-nourished.  The only times I have discarded starter have been when I had to revive a neglected starter, which takes many feedings. 

What can I make with sourdough?

This is the fun part! While you should certainly enjoy loaves of freshly baked sourdough bread, that is only really the beginning.  The first time I ate a sourdough waffle, light, tangy, rich and crisp, with melted butter and syrup, I instantly fell in love.  Now we make these in large batches and freeze extras - they reheat beautifully in the toaster for a fast breakfast.  We love to make sourdough pizza crust for a special treat, sourdough crackers to take for school snacks, sourdough crepes for a quick and easy meal.  I've recently tried my hand at sourdough English muffins and was stunned at how well they turned out.  Sourdough biscuits are a real southern treat, sourdough rolls for dinner are equally tasty.  But the easiest and fastest sourdough recipe I have made is for sourdough crumpets, which are simply scrumptious.  We eat them for breakfast, toasted and buttered with a little homemade plum jam or spiced peach butter, or use them as sandwich bread, or, (oh my heavens) make them into French toast the next day.  They are a revelation, let me tell you.  There is still so much more for me to try and to learn, but that is the beauty of real food - the simple is so delicious and satisfying, and yet there are always more depths to probe and master. 



If you would like to see my favorite sourdough recipes, follow my Pinterest board!



What are your favorite sourdough recipes?  Please share!



Take a look at my friend's blog post on her developing love for sourdough:  My Love Affair with Sourdough.  I was happy to pass a little sourdough starter to her - little did I know that I was starting her obsession!



Related Posts:

*Sourdough Pita Bread
*Zait-and-Za'atar Sourdough Crackers
*Za'atar Bread, or Mana'eesh
*Traditional Food Basics:  Eat (Good) Germs


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