FREDERIC – The Frederic High School smelled very inviting as the scent of baking sourdough bread wafted through the halls on Monday, April 3. Many attendees were the lucky recipients of that bread in the Sourdough Bread with Wild Yeas class offered by the community education program.
Sourdough bread is an art and a science. It takes time and commitment, but the outcome is delicious, healthy and beautiful. In the class, students learned about the benefits of this highly digestible bread using “wild yeast,” along with how to start, feed and maintain the yeast. Students were also introduced to the stretching and folding techniques used to make the bread. Participants were able to bring home some established sourdough starter to begin their own process at home.
According to Vanessa Kimbell of the Sourdough School in Northhamptonshire, England, “Bread is older than metal; even before the Bronze Age, our ancestors were eating and baking flat breads. The ancient Egyptians knew both the brewing of beer and the process of baking leavened bread with use of sourdough proved by wall paintings and analyses of bread loaves and beer remains. Until the time of the development of commercial yeasts, all leavened bread was made using naturally occurring yeasts, meaning all bread was sourdough. With the rise of television baking shows and a re-invigorating of interest in the quality of the food we eat, interest in sourdoughs from smaller bakeries and home production is on the rise.”
