About Sourdough
We live in the modern age. So much is done for us, including the preparation of our foods. We can even go to a restaurant, sit down and be served complete, ready-made, hot meals. These modern conveniences have disconnected us from how our foods are grown and prepared.
Bread is one of the many prepared foods people purchase, all wrapped up in a nice little plastic bag. No more do most people have the satisfaction of smelling a home permeated with the aroma of fresh baked bread. For the minority of people who do bake their own bread, most simplify the process by buying ready-to-use yeast. This is still a fairly recent luxury. How did people make bread before store-bought yeast became available? The answer is simple: sourdough bread.
What does sourdough bread have to do with Christianity? Besides being a very tasty type of bread, it’s critical if we want to better understand the Feast of Unleavened Bread. There are well over 300 verses in The Bible about bread, both leavened and unleavened. Many of the verses contain a tremendous amount of symbolic meaning.
However, much of that meaning can be lost to those of us in the consumer-oriented modern age. Why is that? Because we have become oblivious to the bread-making process. The steps for making bread can shed a lot of light on the meaning of many Bible verses, especially those pertaining to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Though this article is intended to help provide a solid framework for many leaven scriptures, sourdough is a great bread! It has become my go-to bread for making the croutons that go into a phenomenal Thanksgiving dressing. Its tangy flavor, chewy texture and crisp crust distinguish it from other non-fermented breads. The naturally occurring acids and long fermentation help to break down the gluten, making it more digestible and easy for the body to absorb. It also does not require the cumbersome kneading process of typical yeast-only breads. And the experience of making one’s own hot, fresh sourdough bread provides a terrific product for the nose and pallet to enjoy. The actual experience of making sourdough bread also makes verses of The Bible come alive with meaning. This is not merely an intellectual endeavor. You will be very surprised at how the sourdough making experience is critical for our Bible understanding.
Making Sourdough Bread
The process of making sourdough bread is similar to that of making bread with the ready-made yeast, except that in place of a packet of yeast, a “starter” is used.
Acquiring A Starter
There are three ways to acquire a sourdough starter:
Get From A Friend
The quickest and easiest way is to get one from a friend. This is the most common route for “newbies”. If you have a friend or family member who makes their own sourdough bread, you are in luck. Simply ask for a starter. One caveat: ask about how the recipe used for how the mother was started and maintained. Anything containing more than flour and water (and maybe a little salt), may be suspect. Starters containing simple sugars (sweet) can invite the wrong kind of bacteria. For sourdough starters, less is more.
Make With Store-Bought Yeast
Though not as quick and easy as acquiring a starter from someone else, it is not that difficult and may be your next best option if you don’t have access to a starter mother. Just follow this simple recipe: Sourdough Starter.
Make One From Naturally Occurring Yeast In The Air & Flour
If you are adventurous, you may want to try creating your own starter from scratch. The Sourdough Project has a great article that details the process: Wild Sourdough.
Why is it called “sourdough”? Like its name suggests, it has a slightly sour or tangy flavor, which is quite tasty. The sour flavor comes from the lactic acid produced by bacteria that live among the yeast. This distinguishes it from bread made from yeast packets, as the bacteria which produce the lactic acid are absent from the store-bought yeast. These bacteria are from the order Lactobacillus and are also used in the natural fermentation process of foods like sauerkraut, yogurt, miso and kimchi. Different environments can produce starters of various characteristics. The ratios of the different bacteria can produce slightly different flavors and some will rise better than others. If a starter is not kept in the proper conditions, not “fed” regularly, or allow to become infected with improper foods, other undesirable bacteria can infect the starter and spoil it. A spoiled starter may have an altered color, smell and/or flavor. In some cases, mold may even develop. Let your nose be your guide. If it smells “off”, it’s bad. It will not produce good bread. It will either taste bad and/or not even rise. In that case, the starter must be thrown out and a new “lump” or “batch” acquired or created.
How to Maintain a Sourdough Starter
Like any other living organism, the sourdough starter must be maintained, cared for, fed. Though this may take a little effort, it is simple and easy. A video from Mary’s Nest effectively explains a few different processes for maintaining a sourdough starter:
A Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe
For best results, always use bread flour (not all-purpose) when making sourdough bread.
Billy has a really good video on how to actually make simple sourdough bread. Though he is using all-purpose flour in this video, he explains how to replace it with bread flour. If you would like written documentation, he includes that in his show notes.
That’s it! Like anything new we attempt, it may seem a little daunting at first, but it is actually quite simple. Give it a try and enjoy your own flavorful sourdough bread. And, as an added bonus, you will find that Bible scriptures on bread, both leavened and unleavened, contain so much more meaning. To gain more understanding of the meaning, see the article, What Does Leaven Symbolize in The Bible?
