Sourdough Bread

Sourdough bread is a pungent sour flavored bread that is rich in flavor as well as history. It is often believed to be a better choice of breads because of the healthful nature of the fermentation process which makes it sour.

Sourdough has come to be known by many names across America. In California pioneers called it sourdough while in cattle country it was known as chuck wagon bread. Pioneers called sourdough cellar biscuits or cellar bread because it was kept in the cellar while in Philadelphia the pioneers called it yeast dough and could buy a cup of sourdough starter for a penny. In Kentucky sourdough is known by the name of spook yeast and used to bake up spook bread. In France, Europe sourdough is called levain which is mean is starter dough.

Traditionally sourdough starter was kept in a wooden pot in a warm draft free location in the kitchen. Don’t store sourdough starter in a metal container due to chemical reaction. Glass can be used but wood was the preference because it held a more consistent temperature than glass and did not easy to break.

Sourdough starter can be used in a variety of foods such as bread, hotcakes, cookies, cakes and waffles. Sourdough has even been used in less familiar ways such as in tanning hides, as a plaster to cure an aching back, as a glue for a sealing a letter and as paste to paper a cabin.