cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
The Science of Sourdough Starters - Serious Eats
You don't have to understand the the science of sourdough yeasts and bacteria to bake great sourdough bread, but it sure can help.
These are wild times. Many are stuck at home, locked into a relentless repetition of time and place in which weekends mean nothing, and distance means everything. The crisis outside our windows and walls rages on. And it seems that everyone, from professional bakers suddenly out of work to first-time dabblers, is making sourdough bread. My Instagram feed has become an endless flood of blistered, perfectly imperfect boules and batards, and is peppered with snapshots of fledgling baby starters bubbling away.
Why the sudden interest in sourdough, and baking in general? There’s plenty of bread on the store shelves. That’s not the problem. Maybe it’s the relief of a time-intensive, all-consuming endeavor. Or maybe making sourdough plays a more abstract role. “I think [sourdough] bread is a symbol for home, for comfort and community,” says Daniela Galarza, Features Editor at Serious Eats. The concept of taking raw ingredients and microorganisms—ones that aren't dangerous pathogens like the novel coronavirus—and making something that’s nourishing provides solace. “It gives people a sense of control that they otherwise don’t have in other parts of their lives right now.”
You don't have to understand the the science of sourdough yeasts and bacteria to bake great sourdough bread, but it sure can help.
These are wild times. Many are stuck at home, locked into a relentless repetition of time and place in which weekends mean nothing, and distance means everything. The crisis outside our windows and walls rages on. And it seems that everyone, from professional bakers suddenly out of work to first-time dabblers, is making sourdough bread. My Instagram feed has become an endless flood of blistered, perfectly imperfect boules and batards, and is peppered with snapshots of fledgling baby starters bubbling away.
Why the sudden interest in sourdough, and baking in general? There’s plenty of bread on the store shelves. That’s not the problem. Maybe it’s the relief of a time-intensive, all-consuming endeavor. Or maybe making sourdough plays a more abstract role. “I think [sourdough] bread is a symbol for home, for comfort and community,” says Daniela Galarza, Features Editor at Serious Eats. The concept of taking raw ingredients and microorganisms—ones that aren't dangerous pathogens like the novel coronavirus—and making something that’s nourishing provides solace. “It gives people a sense of control that they otherwise don’t have in other parts of their lives right now.”