Sourdough one of the world’s oldest foods
a potted history…
Quite simply, bread is a staple – it has sat at the centre of the table for millennia – made using two simple ingredients flour and water, the result is one of the world’s oldest foods.
To fully understand the invention of bread though, we need to understand a little about the domestication of wheat. Without wheat, there really isn’t any bread.
Other grains and pulses including barley, maize, lentils, rice, were all roughly domesticated about the same time as wheat and its possible that they were also ground to form flour, mixed with water, and even kneaded and then baked. But out of the lot only wheat contains enough of the necessary proteins that make gluten, so that a wet, kneaded, batter infected with wild yeasts and bacteria allowed to sit until it goes sours will rise when it’s baked.
It all started way back when, before the Bronze Age our ancestors started grinding various cereal crops to remove the inedible outer husks, to get at the grains inside to turn them into the raw ingredients to create flatbreads.
Then the Ancient Egyptians got in on the act and discovered how to leaven bread, which it seems occurred quite by accident as a result of wild yeasts forming on a water and flour mix left exposed to the air, which helped the bread mix rise, the rest is history…
Wild yeast is pretty nifty as it goes and has been used the world over in various food preparations by a huge array of ancient cultures from the Americas, across Africa and Asia, that is until the development of commercial yeasts, prior to their arrival all leavened bread was made using naturally occurring yeasts , in other words all bread was sourdough.
The Egyptians shared their knowledge with their fellow Mediterranean neighbours (well they probably nicked the idea to be honest) the Ancient Greeks and it took off. The Greeks ended up crafting dozens of different styles of breads with sweet and savoury version and everything in between. Yes the Romans got in on the act too, but the Romans being Romans made improvements to both the needing and baking processes, which resulted in bread becoming a central part of the Roman diets and if the Roman’s didn’t get their grain to make bread they rioted in fine style!
The 19th century, during that little spell of history known as the Industrial Revolution we saw the introduction of commercial yeasts, mechanical flour milling and gas ovens, all very much to the detriment of sourdough bread. Then by In the 1950s scientists in the UK invented a way of making bread that incorporated fat, extra yeast, and dough conditioners that meant wheat used in bread making could withstanding high speed mixing. The Chorleywood Process was born, which meant bread could be mass manufactured very economically in under four hours. It was a death knell for sourdough breads in the UK with many artisanal bakers simply going out of business.
Happily though all was not lost mainly as a result of a sourdough revival from an unlikely quarter. You might not think that the USA would be synonymous with sourdough bread, but as it goes it has a long and rich history dating back to the numerous gold rushes from 1848. In 1849, Isidore Boudin, the son of master bakers from Burgundy in France, arrived in San Francisco and opened up a bakery. He quickly decided to combine his French bread-making techniques with starters he obtained from prospectors and San Francisco sourdough was born.
Some years later interest waned for a while with the introduction of modern mass manufacturing processes. But then something began to happen in the 1980’s largely led by the owners Acme Bread Co, Steve and Susie Sullivan, who injected fresh interest into the art of sourdough bread making. People elsewhere quickly started to sit up and take notice and very soon a global revival slowly began to gather pace. Inevitably the sourdough revival began to hit the UK, as people began to show more interest in the quality of the food they were eating and how it was made.
By the late 1990’s early 2000’s artisan bakeries were beginning to reappear, some of whom were specialising in sourdough. One of them was our very own Lovingly Artisan Bakery started by Aidan Monks, who got his first taste of baking from his grandfather, a baker in Ambleside, in the heart of the Lakes, who supplied locals and visitors to the area with freshly baked, traditional bread.
This hands-on experience initially inspired Aidan to train in the culinary arts as a commis chef, before training in hospitality management at Blackpool College, where he was lucky enough to gain a scholarship to study at the Boston College of Culinary Arts, Massachusetts, where he rediscovered his love of bread and first came into contact with the art of sourdough bread making. He then later went on to study alongside the craft bakers at Les Grands Moulins de Paris, France, and ever since he has strived to further develop his baking skills and knowledge.
These days Lovingly Artisan bakery, specialises in hand crafted slow-fermented traditional breads made using sourdough and all-natural ingredients, to deliver outstanding flavour and texture. Aidan hasn’t rested on his laurels though, as an innovative and dedicated baker he spends every free moment researching, adapting and putting traditional baking methodology into practice, whilst constantly seeking to improve the breads he creates by adding new thought processes and approaches into the mix.
If you want to learn more, take a peek at our Discover Sourdough Workshop https://lovinglyartisan.com/product/discover-sourdough-with-aidan-monks-online/
