Let's Talk About Sourdough

Let's talk about sourdough.

We toss the word around like it's a flavor. “I'll take a slice of sourdough, please.”

But sourdough is so much more than a flavor. It's a process, and there's a whole history behind it that I think is worth talking about.

When we think of sourdough, most of us picture a beautiful loaf made with white flour, with that familiar tangy flavor and an open crumb. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But sourdough has a much longer history, one that includes different grains, different traditions, and different ways of making bread.

A Little History

Sourdough has been around for thousands of years. Ancient Egyptians were making leavened bread, and the grains people used looked a little different from the white flour we're so familiar with today. Emmer, einkorn, and barley were among the grains grown and used in the ancient world. Over time, other grains, including spelt, rye, and khorasan wheat (often sold under the name Kamut), became part of breadmaking traditions around the world.

Bread has always reflected the people making it, the grains growing around them, and the methods they had available. But as the way we produced food changed, so did the way we made bread.

In the late 1800s, roller milling transformed flour production. By separating the bran and germ from the starchy endosperm, millers could produce the fine, white flour that became increasingly popular. It was easier to store and transport, and it made large-scale production more consistent.

The trade-off was that removing the bran and germ also removed much of the grain's fiber and a number of its vitamins and minerals. As nutritional deficiencies became a concern, flour enrichment eventually became a way to restore certain nutrients, including iron and B vitamins. It was an important development, but enrichment doesn't put everything back that refining takes out.

Commercial baker's yeast also helped change the pace of breadmaking. Bakers could produce more predictable results in less time, making it easier to meet the demands of a growing population and a growing food industry.

And here we are today.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for plenty of modern conveniences. I'll take an icebox, pasteurization, and safe canning any day! But I do find myself wondering what we've gained, what we've lost, and whether making everything faster and more convenient has always been the best trade-off.

As food production became more industrialized, consistency, shelf life, cost, and output became increasingly important. Those things have their benefits, but they also changed our relationship with the food we make and eat.

Traditional methods that relied on time, local ingredients, and generations of knowledge had to find their place in a world increasingly built around efficiency.

I think that's worth talking about. Not because everything about the past was better, but because understanding how we got here might help us make more thoughtful choices about the food we eat today.

Sourdough Is a Process, Not a Flavor

Traditional sourdough starts with a starter made from flour and water. It's a little world of wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria, and together they ferment the dough. It's pretty fascinating when you stop to think about it.

At its simplest, bread is flour, water, and salt. And time. Lots of time.

During fermentation, the starter does so much more than make the bread rise. It develops the flavor, changes the texture, and influences the chemistry of the dough. The grain you use and the time you give it all play a part in the loaf you end up with.

I've always loved that part of breadmaking. There's something special about working with a process that people have relied on for thousands of years.

Of course, sourdough has become quite the trend. You see it everywhere now, and commercial bakeries have found ways to get that familiar tangy flavor into bread without necessarily following a traditional sourdough process.

And this is where my feelings about commercial yeast come in. 

I'm a traditionalist when it comes to sourdough. I love the fermentation, the patience, and the connection between the grain and the finished loaf. For me, those things are part of what makes sourdough what it is.

I've been thinking a lot about how we make our food, how much has changed, and how easily the history behind something can get lost when it becomes popular.

Maybe that's why I keep coming back to sourdough. There's so much more to it than the tangy slice we picture when we hear the word.

What About Gluten?

This is one of the things that got me interested in the science behind fermentation in the first place.

We hear so much about gluten, and I think the conversation is a little more complicated than we sometimes make it out to be. Dr. Vanessa Kimbell of The Sourdough School has written about the different reasons people may struggle with bread, including the role of fructans, which are carbohydrates found in wheat.

During a long fermentation, the microorganisms in sourdough can change some of the components of the dough. That's part of what makes fermentation so interesting to me. We're not just making bread rise; there's a whole process happening that changes the finished loaf.

Does that mean sourdough is easier for everyone to digest? No. Does it mean gluten isn't a problem for anyone? Absolutely not. People with celiac disease must avoid ordinary wheat sourdough, regardless of how long it has fermented.

And while I have my own strong opinions about commercial yeast, I can't say it's responsible for every problem people experience after eating bread. There are different reasons people react to wheat and other bread ingredients, and we shouldn't assume they're all the same.

But I do think there's more to explore when it comes to the relationship between grains, fermentation, and how different people respond to the bread they eat.

A Note About Food, Health, and Science

I find the science behind traditional food fascinating, and sourdough is a good example of why I think we should keep asking questions.

Researchers, including Dr. Vanessa Kimbell of The Sourdough School, are exploring how the grains we use and the way we ferment them can affect the bread we eat. There's promising research, but there's also plenty we still don't know.

I don't think we need to exaggerate the benefits of sourdough to appreciate the process. Whole grains offer fiber and nutrients, and fermentation can change the composition of bread. Those things are worth understanding on their own.

For me, it's about staying curious, reading the research, and being honest about what the evidence actually tells us. I can appreciate traditional food practices while believing in modern science. I don't see those things as being in conflict.

So, Where Do We Go From Here?

I think it's worth knowing how our bread is made. What flour is being used? How long is the dough fermented? Is it made with a live sourdough starter, or is commercial yeast added?

These are simple questions, but the answers can tell us a lot about the bread we're eating.

Sourdough has become such a popular word that it's hard to separate the tradition from the trend sometimes. And honestly, that's what bothers me. Something that's been part of our food history for thousands of years has become another thing to market, package, and sell.

Breadmaking has always evolved, and I'm certainly not suggesting we need to go back in time. But I do think there's a difference between adapting a traditional process and using its name because it's popular.

If you're making bread with commercial yeast, make bread with commercial yeast. There's nothing complicated about that. But sourdough means something to me beyond the flavor, and I think it's worth preserving that distinction.

We personally love the work of the Real Bread Campaign and what they're doing to keep traditional breadmaking and honest labeling part of the conversation. If this subject interests you as much as it interests us, they're well worth a look.

The more I learn about bread, the more I realize how much there is to know about the grains, the milling, and the fermentation. It's a rabbit hole, really, and one I'm happy to keep going down.

Because sourdough isn't just a flavor. It's a process, a history, and a little bit of patience in a world that rarely wants to wait for anything.