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25th Jan 2021

Sourdough Sisters: Exploring Ancient Techniques



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Article by Allen Gula, AQUA Operations Manager at Hub Culture

Every time I get a notification on my phone from the group chat ‘Sour Sisters’ I laugh at our conversations about how best to take care of our ‘children’. This group sprang up after a pizza party where we shared our passion for being in the kitchen and experimenting with new recipes. Home-baked bread was a trendy fad during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, and our group vows to continue this ancient tradition in the new year.

Bread is a basic foodstuff that enters our mouths in various forms every day*. The vast majority of it is pretty rubbish! It’s made from cheap, low-quality ingredients that have been modified genetically or intentionally abbreviated in its production for the sake of financial profit. I pray that you start making your own bread by the end of this article. Your stomach might too…

Intelligence is thought to reside in the brain. Yes and no… ‘Trust your gut’, an adage we’ve all heard from friends and family, refers to the gut biome that resides in our bellies. It means to trust how you feel in your stomach when you reflect on a relationship to something or a decision that you have to make. How does your gut increase it’s intelligence? Take a bite out of that pizza of course!

Sourdough contains probiotics linked to the process in which it goes through to exist; using flour, water and time. Over time, wild yeast spores that exist in the air are captured in what most sourdough bakeries call ‘Mother’. Mother is a reference to the sourdough starter that has been sitting in our kitchens. Every day it gets ‘fed’ more flour and water while discarding a portion from the day prior. This eternal maintenance is why our Sour Sisters group chat is so active around feeding time. Remember to feed it!

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 By feeding IT, we are able to feed ourselves. The upkeep is minimal, but the diversity and depth of flavor profile that yields overall gut health is amazing. The social atmosphere of cooking together is fun and aids in digestion too. Sourdough discard can take any traditional recipe and add healthy probiotics; pancakes, waffles, cookies, cakes, breads, pizzas, flatbreads and flour taco shells. 

Here’s a fun recipe to get the sourdough-ball rolling.

The journey of fermentation begins with a small scoop of flour over room temperature water. You can make your own, or please contact us if you are interested in purchasing a sourdough starter. Good luck! (And don’t forget to feed it!)

*Much love to the anti-glutens for all of the complexities of individual dieting preferences. This article is meant to celebrate the art of sourdough baking and means no offense to anyone unable to participate in eating the end product. We always invite alternative flour pizzas to the party!