What if we told you history didn’t have to be boring?
And that history can be very tasty!
Calgary resident Vivian Woods is taking her customers back in time to ancient Egypt with her sourdough starter.
Sourdough is among the most popular types of bread, ranking sixth globally.
The delicious bread owes its popularity to a unique texture and flavour profile.
Sourdough is described as slightly chewy with a tangy and slightly sour taste.
Believe it or not, the bread isn’t called “sourdough” because it’s sour.
The bread’s name dates back to the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898 (more on that shortly).
However, sourdough’s origins can be traced back to ancient Egypt circa 2000BC.
A Wild Accident
As with most things, sourdough was discovered by accident.
The most common type of bread made by ancient Egyptians included nothing but water and flour. This mixture was left to sit for several days, resulting in a flatbread.
The most common explanation for the discovery of sourdough is that the water and flour mixture was colonized by wild yeast spores in the air, which caused the dough to rise.
Through trial and error, the ancient Egyptians found that the spores could be kept alive by saving a small amount of raw dough and reusing it.
Today, this leftover dough is referred to as “sourdough starter.”
Unlike other wheat or white breads, which rely on yeast to rise, sourdough bread only needs a starter that has been colonized by wild yeast.
The name “sourdough” came to be during the Klondike Gold Rush.
At the time, the ingredients used to make traditional bread, yeast and baking soda, either could not be accessed or could not survive the Yukon’s harsh conditions.
The starter was more reliable but needed to be kept somewhat warm. Experienced miners and settlers always kept a pouch of starter around their necks or on a belt and tucked in their pants.
They would even sleep with their starters to keep it from freezing at night.
The term “sourdoughs” came to be used for those who endured at least one winter in Yukon or Alaska, keeping their starters alive with them.
Back To The Future
Centuries later, some people proudly claim their sourdough starter originated in the Klondike which is indeed impressive.
But Vivian’s sourdough starter is much older.
Vivian owns and operates Jan’s Creative Temptations, a Facebook page where she sells the unique 4,500-year-old starter from the Egyptian pyramids.
“They’ve gone in and done excavations, and they were able to actually find some clay pots from the very first bakeries. They scraped the spores and the flakes off these pots and took them back to different labs to reactivate them,” Vivian explained to Global News.
Two people involved in rejuvenating of the ancient starter live in Idaho, where Vivian gets her supply of the sourdough starter.
According to a Facebook post, Vivian’s supplier is Ed Wood, the founder of Sourdough International.
In 1991, archaeologists unearthed an ancient bakery in Giza, Egypt.
Eager to obtain the ancient spores, Ed proposed an idea.
“I asked (the archaeologist) if he’d be interested in me scraping the walls of the old bakery to find the first natural leaven. He said, ‘That’s a great idea;’ he was totally enthused,” Ed told Edible Idaho.
Ed used the spores to create the “Giza culture,” which he sells through his business.
The Giza culture is one of 18 cultures Ed has collected worldwide, which he now sells to customers in 75 countries.
“Articulating the differences in flavour with words is difficult. They all taste like the country of origin, from camel hair to the Tasmanian devil,” said Ed.
Reviving The Past
Vivian’s mother, Jan Woods is a veteran baker who makes bread using the unique Egyptian starter.
With just water and flour, she makes incredible sourdoughs that are second to none.
“It’s a very potent and interesting culture to work with. Sourdoughs that are more mature are way more active, plus you get more of a sour flavour,” Jan told Global News.
In addition to selling the starter to Calgarians, Vivian offers a dehydrated sourdough starter that can be shipped worldwide.
Baking sourdough is a labour of love that takes time to perfect.
But the right starter can go a long way toward making a delicious loaf that would make even the Egyptians smile.
Now that’s history we can sink our teeth into!
