Sourdough
Sourdough is a unique bread in that it is made from natural yeast (not store bought) which gives its rise, its airy softness, and its distinct tangy flavor. But why choose sourdough over just any loaf of bread, what makes it so special? Well, MANY reasons.
Sourdough bread...it's been around for centuries...like 4500 years according to Google. But it wasn't introduced to America until the California gold rush. It further traveled to Canada and Alaska during the Klondike gold rush. Its popularity has been restored these last 10 years as new generations of families have taken to homesteading and publicizing their lifestyle via social media. Another reason it has taken off comes from health experts who have detoured away from the FDA. So much awareness has been made about ingredients that are in our foods that more and more people have researched ways to "go back to" the way things used to be made/grown/used. And sourdough is one such way. Sourdough is a fermented food, hence the 'sour' taste it can provide. Fermented foods are wonderful gut friendly foods, making this bread a few notches better than any store bought loaf laden with preservatives and unpronounceable ingredients . However, bread is still bread in that it's made with flour...and that is where issues arise.
My flour research was triggered after seeing an advertisement for ancient grains flour. What I ended up learning is actually pretty basic. Flour is a convenience food...with zero nutritional value coming from the endosperm, not the bran, germ, or oil produced when stone grinding. I always questioned to myself, "how did people for centuries make bread and never have heart conditions, weight gain, etc...and it was the staple in their diets?" I mean, we've all heard the term, "let's break bread together"...because bread was on every table and a HUGE part of the meal if not the only part of a meal. As I dove deeper in research I learned that sifting flour has been around forever and 5 days as well. Egyptians sought out a finer texture from their grains. Time consuming made finer flour expensive and only royals enjoyed this luxury. Over time, the process changed as did production. Yet, it was still a luxury, making it a status symbol to have finely sifted flour. Stoneground flour was for the everyday person, finely ground/sifted flour for the elite. The tedious sifting removed parts of the bran and germ, done by hand until around 1870. It was then that steel rollers came into play making the milling process faster and the separation of the wheat kernel and its parts easier. The process also eliminated the wheat germ oil which meant the flour could last longer on the shelf as well as make it look more attractive (white). This practice is still used today with commercial steel rollers.
Flour made with this process however, started showing an enormous nutrient deficiency especially with the commoners who could only afford the stone ground flour prior to the steel rollers. (Remember, theirs weren't originally sifted) They were used to getting more of the wheat that was now missing with the faster process. It was then that in the 1920's flour started to be "enriched" with iron, niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin. It eradicated the defeciencies almost immediately. And because of that, it's illegal in most countries to sell flour that hasn't been enriched. (side note: Folic acid wasn't introduced until the 1990s. Folic acid is MAN MADE. It is a synthetic and NOT FOUND IN NATURE...) And then the introduction of bleached flour. Bleached flour is less dense than unbleached and makes for "fluffier" baked products and obviously whiter. It is banned in other countries including Australia and the European Union because of the carcinogenic properties in the chemicals used to bleach...(Let that sink in when you go to buy flour)
So with that all being said, homemade sourdough made with unbleached organic flour is good, (keep in mind it's been 'enriched' and probably contains folic acid) but making it with organic fresh milled flour where the whole wheat berry is actually a part of the flour makes the sourdough bread the most nutritional. If you choose to mill your own flour, be sure to research the different types of wheat berries. (and mills) There are several and each has different characteristics that can and will change recipes. Ex: soft white wheat berries are great for baked goods, hard white wheat berries are more like the all-purpose flour, hard red wheat berries bake denser and are the brown 'wheat' bread loaves we see at the store. There is also Einkorn, spelt, rye, kamut, etc...
Making sourdough bread (or sourdough baked goods) is a bit different than the traditional ways we have learned to bake, and for some it can be a bit frustrating. Sourdough starts with acquiring or growing (feeding as you will learn) your own sourdough starter. It is the base and the most important part of making sourdough. This is where the fermentation process is created. It literally starts with flour and water. The natural yeast is then developed and fed sugars/carbs (flour) to grow. And because it is a yeast (a levain), it is what is necessary to give rise to your breads. It is also filled with the bacteria lactobacilli, making it gut friendly as I mentioned above.
There are MANY many tutorials, websites, and recipes to make sourdough starters, breads, and baked goods and I'm not even going to try and flatter myself and act like I can show you! It took me forever to finally get the sandwich bread recipe down that I so loved only to go and change it all up after I received a mill as a birthday gift from my daughter. That changed absolutely everything for me. I say that because there are many factors with sourdough. What I've learned in the three years of baking with sourdough is this: 1) an active (bubbly) sourdough starter is a must for bread. 2) the wheat berries definitely change the dough consistency as well as the bread density 3)the wheat berries definitely give a different texture and taste to your bread/baked goods in a delicious way 4) your house temperature and humidity is a big factor in the rising/proofing process 5) fancy equipment can still make a flat loaf of bread 6) there are several recipes for sourdough discard 7) failed bread makes great croutons 8) patience is definitely required 9) you can get a killer workout kneading your dough and 10) there is nothing more rewarding than having loaves of sourdough bread stored in your freezer. Whatever you do, don't give up. It is so worth the change and challenge from store bought chemical filled non-nutritional bread to homemade, delicious, nutritional sourdough. Click to check out all my resources and supplies that I have used and that have helped me in my sourdough journey.
