IT WORLD

Aside from what might be called plain sourdough bread, there are a number of other breads that use similar starters and techniques. Amish Friendship Bread uses a sourdough starter that includes sugar and milk. However, it is further leavened with baking powder and baking soda, making it more of a quick bread. The German Pumpernickel is traditionally made from a sourdough starter, although modern pumpernickel loaves often use commercial yeasts, sometimes spiked with citric acid or lactic acid to inactivate the amylases in the rye flour. Also, the Flemish Desem bread is a popular form of whole-wheat sourdough, though cultured in a much less liquid medium.


The art of making good bread without yeast was perfected in many cultures in antiquity. The French claim to be the best and have been the most influential in the baking industry. Hence most modern bakers look to French terminology and methods in an attempt to describe and label their products. Classically, the French call bread made without yeast (ale or otherwise), ‘pain au levain’ ie: bread with leaven. The leaven is understood to be made from flour and water, and this is cultured to capture wild yeasts and bacteria which come from the air and from the flour itself. A symbiotic culture of yeasts and bacteria results, which is then maintained under careful criteria to eventually produce a viable active agent capable of properly leavening bread. 


sourdough recipe