For thousands of years, until the development of baker’s yeast less than 200 years ago, sourdough was the only method for making bread rise. This simple mixture of wheat flour, water, and wild microorganisms, discovered by chance over 6,000 years ago, has nourished entire civilizations, from the Egyptians to today’s bakers.
Despite the rise of industrialization in the 19th century, sourdough has remained at the heart of traditional baking practices, offering unique benefits and an inimitable taste. But what are the origins of sourdough? Where does it come from?
Discover the history of sourdough starter and how this ancient tradition has endured through the ages.
Who Discovered the First Sourdough?
The origins of sourdough are so ancient that no written record exists. What follows is only a guess, based on the natural biological properties of sourdough and its ingredients. Like all fermentation, sourdough is not a deliberate human invention; it is an accidental discovery that has been refined over time.
The Theory of Fermented Porridge
Probably more than 10,000 years ago, someone left a mixture of flour, water, and fruit to ferment. This mixture of natural ingredients produced bubbles and became slightly alcoholic, resembling a primitive form of beer. While this porridge could be eaten as is, one day someone decided to bake it, thus creating leavened bread.
The Theory of Bread Dough
Another theory is that of the baker who each day reused some of the flatbread dough left over from the previous day. By regularly feeding this dough with rye or wheat flour and water, and given the right conditions, the dough would have naturally begun to rise, thus becoming a ferment and marking the advent of sourdough.
These discoveries were likely made many times throughout history, opening the way to countless culinary possibilities. Sourdough transformed the texture and taste of bread while improving the preservation and transportation of food.
Ancient Egypt: First Signs of Large-Scale Bakery
Although the first signs of sourdough bread date back 15,000 years in Jordan (ref.), everything suggests that these were flat, unfermented loaves. The first evidence of sourdough dates back to the Ancient Egyptian Empire. Ancient Egypt, often considered the cradle of leavened bread, played a central role in the development of breadmaking. By 6,000 BC, Egyptian civilizations had already mastered the craft of baking and were producing bread in large quantities. We can therefore assume that the advent of sourdough dates back to the beginnings of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent, several thousand years ago.
Archaeological evidence, including frescoes found in the tombs of the pharaohs, depicts bakery scenes, underlining the crucial importance of bread in Egyptian society, both economically and spiritually (ref.). However, there is no evidence that the Egyptians intentionally used leaven to make their bread rise. They may well have discovered the benefits of fermentation by accident, without fully understanding the microbiological process involved.
Oldest Archaeological Remains of Sourdough in Switzerland
More concretely, in 1976, archaeological evidence of sourdough bread dating back to 3,700 BC was discovered in the village of Twann in Switzerland (ref.), confirming the origin of sourdough bread. This discovery marked the official beginning of the history of sourdough starter, bringing its known origins back more than 5,000 years, and providing a unique glimpse into the culinary practices of our ancestors.
The First Written Record in Ancient Rome
The earliest written evidence of the use of traditional sourdough comes from Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian and naturalist of the 1st century AD. In his writings, he describes how Roman bakers leavened their bread by reusing a portion of fermented dough from the previous day. This rudimentary sourdough method documented around 77 AD, is one of the earliest written records of the bread fermentation process, illustrating the evolution of bread-making techniques through the ages (ref. Naturalis Historia, by Pliny the Elder).
The Oldest Sourdoughs Still Active
Many bakers, both amateur and professional, have been preserving their traditional sourdough for generations, some dating back over a hundred years. However, sourdough is not a stable material, frozen in time. On the contrary, it is a living colony of microorganisms whose ecosystem is constantly evolving, rather like a forest in perpetual transformation. Except that what would take centuries to transform in a forest happens in just a few weeks in a jar of sourdough!
Every time the sourdough is fed, whether the baker mixes it with his spatula, or it’s simply exposed to air, new microorganisms are introduced. Every day, depending on variations in the environment (temperature, humidity, light, nutrients, etc.), some microorganisms thrive while others decline.
Microcosms in Constant Evolution
It is therefore impossible to determine the age of sourdough because of the short lifespan of the microbes that compose it. However, this does not mean that every sourdough is identical – quite the contrary! In Belgium, there is even a library dedicated to analyzing and listing sourdoughs. The Puratos Sourdough Library has contributed to the identification of over 700 types of yeast and more than 1,500 varieties of lactic bacteria. (ref.)
Get the Tools!
We recommend the following products for making homemade sourdough.
