Category: Breads

Sourdough Starter, Recipes, and Histories

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Sourdough Starter

In recent memory, and yet, hardly believable for some, is the recent history with Sourdough, and Sourdough Bread making when in 2020 many of us were seeing empty store shelves for the first time in our lifetimes!

We might say Sour Times, lend themselves well to Sourdough! So, let’s get a Starter!

Ok, Ok, I know! Don’t worry though the real proof is in the Rising Dough!

Now, before I loose You, let’s take a quick look at the History of Sourdough.

It is said that, Sourdough bread has a rich history dating back to ancient Egypt, around 1500 BC. Funny, because most of my people were eating Manna. Of course, after 40 years on the Wilderness eating flatbread it’s no wonder someone, somewhere, came up with a fermentation process, driven by naturally occurring wild yeast and lactobacilli, to make leavened the bread! Right?

In more recent times, Sourdough gained popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages. I said more recent, not modern! However, more recently when in 2020 we were faced with empty store shelves, people weren’t just hoarding toilet Paper, they were also learning to make Sourdough Starter, Sour Dough today, its distinctive tangy flavor and traditional preparation methods continue to captivate bakers and food enthusiasts worldwide.

Meanwhile at home, here in Canada, we’d be a miss if we didn’t mention the History of Sourdough in Canada and how Sourdough played a vital role in Canadian history, especially during the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 19th century! Prospectors carried sourdough starter cultures on their journeys, relying on it to bake bread in the harsh conditions of the Yukon. This iconic connection between sourdough and Canadian frontier life persists in cultural narratives and culinary traditions. Which sort of brings us full circle to Life at Briden Farm!

Take for example how, just today, We’ve rendered lard from our Woodland Pastured Pigs, made homemade bread, manually carried water buckets and feed to our animals through the snow. Some of which we pulled along on the toboggan, and kept warm by our kitchen wood stove while preparing supper of  rabbit and fried potatoes. Potatoes from last years garden of course. I also started feeding my Sourdough Starter, that I started just a couple days ago! Not wanting to waste the Discard from the Sourdough Starter, I found a
Recipe for Sourdough Crumpets! Imagine!

Sourdough Crumpet Dough

Like the Watkins 1944 Calendar that hangs on the Wall beside my Recliner, we often do things the old way, the simple, basic, things are often the best! Take this basic Beginner Sourdough Starter Recipe for example.

See, I hate to waste anything, and to me the worst part of making Sourdough Bread isn’t necessarily the seven days it takes to feed a good Sourdough Starter, to me it’s that when you feed the Starter You have to throw half of it away! Not once, but everyday! At least for the first week! So, I went in search of what I could do with the “Discard”. Here’s what I found!

Sourdough Discard Recipes from the King Arthur Baking Company (Wish They Shipped to Canada). Wouldn’t i just be coo to say You got that from King Arthur! In fact, if You’re in the United States you can just order your Sourdough Starter from King Arthur! I think it might have been Guinevere’s Recipe! Maybe not!?

Anyway, back here in Canada, where we can’t order from King Arthur, and where we like to do things for ourselves, We like this Beginner Sourdough Starter Recipe.

 


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