Sourdough bread has been around for a long time. Both beer and sourdough bread appeared around the same time in ancient Egypt. Two great uses for grains! Sourdough fermentation also changes how people digest grains. See
I started making sourdough loaves using the instructions from Breadtopia.com. They sell the starter through Amazon. It takes a few days to grow the starter from the small package to make enough to continue growing and give you the 1/4 cup you need to make the bread. There is a great “no knead” recipe and video on Breadtopia. Breadtopia’s recipe is simple:
- 1/4 cup of starter
- 1 and half cups of water
- Two and half cups of bread flour
- 1 cup of whole wheat
- 1 and half teaspoons of salt
For my SoCal recipe:
- 3 and a third cups of unbleached bread flour with a third cup of cracked wheat and no whole wheat (it was not in my cupboard!)
- Mix the water and starter together.
- Then mix the dry ingredients
- Then mix the wet and dry ingredients together. The mixture should be damp. Add water or flour as needed.
Covered the bowl with a plastic bag and let it sit from 8 to 12 hours. The longer you wait, the wetter the mixture gets. The mix will increase in size.
The mixture is dumped on to a floured surface and flattened and rolled (see video on Breadtopia.
The roll is allowed to rest for 15 minutes.





