The greatest loaf of all

We refer to sourdough by different names. The French call it levain, the Spanish masa madre, and the Germans name it sauerteig. It is a verb, used to describe the process of making bread but also a noun, a word we say to call the bread itself. To make sourdough is to partake in a history that goes back thousands of years, almost as old as the human civilisation itself. It is the oldest form of naturally leavened bread, made with water, flour, a sprinkle of salt, and time to allow the starter, a bewitching alchemy of fermentation between wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria, takes place.

The starter is reverentially referred to as mother and often lovingly named by its baker who recognises it as