Get Started With Sourdough
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I love making traditional sourdough bread, but it’s probably not for all the reasons you think.
I mean, all those microbes that pre-digest the grain, that tangy flavor that gets stronger with each hour the dough sits fermenting on the counter—those are all great.
But the real reason I love to make sourdough bread is that it takes so dang long.
You heard me right.
In this lightening-fast world, where we need to wait for almost nothing, the 36-ish hours it takes to turn flour and water into a warm loaf of bread ready for slicing have become a meditation for me.
It slows me down, makes me think in steps, and wait.
I love the silky feeling of the dough in my hands. The tangy smell in the air.
And—risking sounding super woo-woo here—knowing that I’m joining in a ritual that people have been doing for thousands of years.
It makes me crazy, but in the best of ways. At least, I think so.
What is Sourdough Bread?
Sourdough bread is a bread that is raised―or leavened―not with commercial yeast but with what is called a sourdough starter. A sourdough starter is a living, breathing thing. It’s a mixture of flour and water, but it’s more than that.
Through a simple process of fermentation in which the naturally-present bacteria and yeast are allowed to grow, it becomes the home of a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. These beneficial microorganisms thrive on the starches within the flour. Their life cycle is simple: eat, reproduce, release gas.
Each of these steps—eat, reproduce, release gas—is essential to the sourdough bread process, but it’s the gas that makes the magic and turns a sticky blob of flour and water into a beautifully fluffy loaf of bread. That carbon dioxide gas that’s released as the microbes consume the flour causes the dough to puff up. And that’s how a sourdough works.
Why Eat Sourdough Bread?
Aside from all that slowing down, thinking in steps, feeling the dough between my fingers, there are a few other reasons to love sourdough bread.
Because it tastes so good. The texture and flavor of traditionally fermented sourdough bread is unparalleled. Sourdough can be used to make a variety of kids of bread, from soft crumb sandwich bread to springy open-crumb shattery-crusted artisan loaves, from ultra-tangy to mild to no tang.
Because it’s pre-digested. The work of the microbes feeding on the starches, makes the bread easier on our guts. The microbes present within the starter feed on the starches and degrade the proteins in the grain and begin the process of breaking them down. Many people find it much more digestible than conventional bread, and that with sourdough, they don’t experience the belly ache and bloat that they often feel when eating conventionally prepared bread.
How To Get Started With Sourdough
It really is easy to make sourdough bread in your own kitchen. You just need sourdough starter, flour, water, and salt.
Sourdough starter is crafted by cultivating the naturally-occuring bacteria and yeast that is present all around us. It’s on our hands. It’s in the air. It’s on the flour itself. And with a little time and tender care, it will grow into the flourishing colony that will become your sourdough starter.
So, are you ready to craft your sourdough starter?
Grab your printable download for sourdough starter here:
A week from now, you’ll be ready to bake your first loaf of bread. Try my Basic Boule.
For a step-by-step approach to understanding sourdough and artisan bread baking, check out my Sourdough Series.
