Sourdough Bread

Sourdough

Sourdough bread is the oldest method of making bread used in bakery. Although, since the industrial production of baker’s yeast at the end of the 19th century, the “baguette” and white bread have become essential, sourdough bread is back in the spotlight.

In the case of sourdough bread, baker’s yeast is not added, but the ferments present in the flour (and the preparation utensils) are allowed to ferment spontaneously.

From one production to the next, a piece of fermented dough is kept which will be used to seed the next production.

This sourdough ‘common thread’ is called “levain chef’ in French (Lead sourdough) but is also called ‘Madre’, mother, in Spanish.

The civilizations of antiquity, including the Egyptians and Sumerians, were already consumers of cereal porridge and naturally fermented bread.

A sourdough is a fermented dough resulting from a natural fermentation of flour and water, with the presence of bacteria (mainly lactic ferments) and yeasts. It is used to make bread rise, but also allows an increase in the shelf life of the bread, nutritional quality and allows a specific flavor.

French legislation states that “sourdough is a dough composed of wheat and rye flour, or only one of these two ingredients, drinking water, possibly with the addition of salt, and subjected to a natural acidifying fermentation, the function of which is to ensure the leavening of the dough”.

Sourdough fermented doughs are characterized by their higher acidity (related to aroma and preservation) and higher bread densities. The work carried out by lactic ferments makes it possible on the one hand to acidify the dough, which allows the predigesting of proteins and the elimination of anti-nutritional factors such as phytic acid (which prevents the assimilation of minerals).

As the manufacturing times were much longer than for the classical white bread suche “baguette”, this method of fermentation has been abandoned by most bakers. Today, with the revival of the search for naturalness, authenticity and the success of special breads, sourdough breadmaking, especially in organic bakery, is developing.

In addition, the success of traditional sourdough made Panettones, which are now regularly present on the shelves of major retailers, reinforces this point.

In the USA, San Francisco Sourdough bread is a great example of this kind of bakery process.