Sourdough: The tasty silver lining to the corona crisis

As a reviewer of cookbooks, I can say unequivocally that most English-language cookbooks these days are focused around dieting fads, with keto, Paleo, whole 30, vegan and ultra-healthy eating at the top of that list. I’ve read through more gluten-free recipes than I care to admit. It takes something of epic proportions to unexpectedly knock us all to our feet again and press the reset button on the current state of our cultural trends. Something to swing the pendulum back the other way a bit. The current global pandemic has had more negative than positive effects. People everywhere have suffered. But it’s also true that priorities have shifted. Some indescribable force has brought us crashing back down to Earth when it comes to our food choices, happily steering us as a society back to bread. And not just any bread but sourdough, which is the original bread that our ancestors were making tens of thousands of years ago.

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Before commercial freeze-dried yeast was widely available in the late 19th century, all that existed was wild yeast. That is exactly what you are cultivating in the sourdough starter that no doubt sits on your counter by now (should you have given into the trend). I bet you hadn’t considered the fact that yeast organisms live in the very air we breathe, no matter where you are, until you decided to harness their magical powers for your personal use. Sourdough bread baking involves the successful incubation of a robust starter — that could take days or even weeks– plus maintenance (haven’t you always wanted a pet?) and the application of this living being to the process of baking. The possibilities range from all the things you can make using your sourdough discard (the stuff you throw away each day when you feed your starter) to those gorgeous, luscious loaves you see everyone boasting about online.-- More...