Few breads have such a growing fanbase as sourdough. With its tangy flavor and crisp crust, sourdough bread is both rustic and timeless, dating back thousands of years. For some, the appeal lies in the process: nurturing a starter, tending dough, and baking loaves at home. For others, it’s simply about savoring a loaf picked up from a favorite local bakery, where skilled hands have already done the hard work.
The Story of Sourdough
The magic of sourdough begins with a simple mixture of flour and water, called a starter. Over time, this mixture nurtures wild yeast and friendly bacteria from the environment. Working together, they create carbon dioxide that makes the dough rise and lactic acids that give sourdough its distinctive tang. For thousands of years, this was the only way bread was leavened, until the mid-19th century when commercial yeast was discovered.
While commercial yeast made breadmaking faster and more predictable, sourdough never really disappeared. In fact, it’s made a huge comeback in recent years, especially among home bakers who enjoy the hands-on process and unique character that each loaf brings.
The Knead for Sourdough
Sourdough’s surge in popularity in the U.S. can be traced back to the COVID-19 pandemic. During that time, many people turned to at-home hobbies and sought a more mindful connection to food. Social media expanded the movement, with countless posts highlighting the bubbling starters and crusty loaves which fostered a sense of community among both new and seasoned bakers. Today, the trend shows no sign of slowing down. Sourdough endures not only for its distinctive flavor and texture, but also for its perceived health benefits and ties to a more slow-living lifestyle.
Sourdough Fun Facts
Check out these interesting facts about sourdough from tastingtable.com.
It has an ancient history – ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics depicted the sourdough making process, as it was an important part of both their culture and diet. Sourdough then fueled the Roman Empire and was a staple during the Middle Ages.
It comes in all shapes and sizes – most people think of the oval sourdough bread with the crunchy, chewy outer crust and a fluffy, soft inside, filled with little pockets of air. But there are many other styles out there. Sourdough can look like sandwich bread and even come stuffed with nuts, herbs, and oils, or sprinkled with seeds.
You can flavor sourdough bread – Once you’ve mastered the recipe, it might be fun to experiment with additional flavors ranging from herbs to cinnamon and honey.
Sourdough starter is alive – Once you’ve created your sourdough starter, you’ve taken on some responsibility. There’s energy and effort that goes into keeping your starter alive, well fed and hydrated.
It promotes a healthy gut – the bacteria in sourdough starter are good bacteria, like the probiotics you might take in supplement form or enjoy in yogurt.
It isn’t just for making bread – you can use sourdough for other foods. If you’re unsure about what you could use sourdough for, consider anything that rises such as cinnamon buns, waffles, and pancakes.
Stale sourdough can be repurposed – blend it to make breadcrumbs to bread your chicken, eggplant, or stuff into mushroom caps.
Well, I learned some new things about sourdough, how about you?
NCP Panel Members: If you buy supplies to make your own sourdough bread at home, don’t forget to scan them!
Have you tried making sourdough at home? Share your best tips—or your funniest fails—in the comments below!
Regards,
Taylor
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I love sourdough bread. Now that I’m no longer working I’m going to make my first batch of sourdough and go from there.
Just started my sourdough over this past week excited for this sourdough journey.
I don’t ❤️ eat sour dough bread
Everything here is so amazing. Reading so much different things. Perhaps things I didn’t know
I have been making sourdough bread and other wonderful goodies for years.
I made my starter years ago and before I made my first batch of bread I was making different types of starters with a variety of flours for months, then testing with a few identical recipes to see what the hubby liked.
I’m a cosmetic chemist by trade, so working with starters was basically just carrying so much of my ‘work’ in experiments into the kitchen.
Different flours and varying blends believe it or not provide very different results even though one doesn’t need a lot of starter for most recipes.
I took countless videos, photos and endless notes by video as well as my trusty MsWord Docs so I could keep track of everything. Everything is in digital files on external hard drives and on the cloud, and survived Hurricane Helene.
I even did some baking of pizza dough on the grill with different recipes to find the perfect one when it was too hot to bake in the Georgia summer.
I highly encourage playing with starters and recipes. If you need guidance you can always find me on Meta under my name – Denise Mendenhall.
I have only eaten it a few times and am not a fan. It’s too chewy for me.
I’m a photographer. I take weird and wild photos from everywhere I have visited and including in Connecticut. The Sun And Moon is my favorite sitting to view. And also love to take photos of any kind of Our earth animals nature’s land.
I crochet, make candles, quilting
I am a big fan of sourdough. My daughter gave me some starter from her starter and she got hers from a friend whose starter is several years old. I use it mainly for sourdough pancakes for breakfast, but we have used it for scones, too. I keep it in the fridge and when ready to make something, I get it out of the fridge, move half of it to another jar which will be used for pancakes or whatever, feed the original starter and the new jar with 1/2 cup of water and flour each and let them sit on the counter for several hours to let them double in size. The original then goes back in the fridge with a lid on the jar so it will slow down and be ready for the next time I get it out, feed it and use half for the next recipe. So exciting to smell that yeasty odor wafting around the kitchen and reliving memories of the wondrous eating coming up.
Sourdough is the best bread for a Sandwich or Hamburger Buns made from Sourdough is awesome it will melt in your mouth.