About Sourdough
What is Sourdough?
Sourdough is a bread made using naturally occurring yeast and bacteria to ferment dough. For literally thousands of years, the process of making levain breads relied on wild yeasts and bacteria to provide gases to leaven the dough and create 4.5 Ph or lower, which acts as a natural preservative.
The process is quite amazing. When water is added to flour, it activates enzymes in the flour that convert the carbs into simple sugars. These sugars are consumed by the yeast and lactic acid bacteria naturally occurring in the flour. The result is CO2 and ethyl alcohol. The gluten content of flours varies, so we do use commercial yeast with recipes that require it.
This history of sourdough is the history of humanity.
To Be Continued!