Happy NATIONAL SOURDOUGH BREAD DAY

Since I don’t celebrate April fools day I was glad to see something I actually like, Sourdough Bread day. One of the world’s oldest leavened breads, sourdough is produced through a the process of long fermentation of the dough using lactobacilli and yeasts.  The use of naturally occurring yeasts and friendly ( I guess as opposed to unfriendly?) bacteria versus cultivated yeast causes the bread to have a slightly sour, but pleasant taste. 

Most likely the first form of leavening available to bakers, it is believed sourdough originated in Ancient Egyptian times around 1500 BC.  It did remain the usual form of leavening into the European Middle Ages. During the California Gold Rush, sourdough was the main bread made in Northern California and is still a part of the culture of San Francisco today.

The bread was so common at that time the word “sourdough” became a nickname for the gold prospectors. In The Yukon and Alaska, a “sourdough” is also a nickname given to someone who has spent an entire winter north of the Arctic Circle, and it refers to their tradition of protecting their sourdough during the coldest months by keeping it close to their body. The sourdough tradition was also carried into Alaska and western Canadian territories during the Klondike Gold Rush.

.facebook_1926951352