March 23, 2016 - 4:36am
Sourdough Starter, America’s Rising Pet
Sam Sifton, a food writer for The New York Times writes today about the popularity of our friend and neighbor, sourdough starter - http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/dining/sourdough-starter-bread-baking.html?
Unfortunately our favorite website, TFL, gets no mention.
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Thanks Alfanso , for reminding me that the NY TIMES has some great food articles and recipes. Sam has an interesting recipe for sourdough pancake and waffle batter, and a tweaked Jim Leahy recipe for sourdough no-knead bread. I will try these. Yes, I too am always surprised when The Fresh Loaf site is not mentioned when discussing fabulous sites for forums and recipes. I mention this site to any and all breadbakers. What would we do without Floyd and his invaluable site? My thanks to you and to Floyd.
he said that up to a hundred years ago SD was the way bread was made. From ancient times to today most bread was made with barm yeast from beer making and commercial yeast that was made from barm yeast. Most people don't like sour bread and SD was always time consuming, finicky and mire expensive to make so it has always been the back up for those who didn't have access to barm yeast from the local brewery. SD was the favorite of pioneers, those living in the hjnterkands and travelers as a result.
Do you know of a book I can read that's all about the history of sourdough bread? Or of bread in general with a chapter on sourdough?
Jacobs' "6000 years of Bread" is probably still the best. For an English perspective, Elizabeth David's "English Bread and Yeast Cookery" is the classic.
Re. dab's barmy assertion: The relationship between the village brewers and the English home baker is well-described. However, on the Continent, the "old dough" (pâte fermenté) method of leavening predominated, as far as I can tell.
BTW, there is an active Facebook Group on the History of Bread that may be of interest.
David