Sourdough Bread Manifesto

Bread is more than food. It is a symbol of our connection to the land, the ancient tradition of baking, and each other. The root of our word “companion” means someone who shares bread with another. Yet, in our modern world, bread has lost its soul, its flavour, and its ability to bring people together. Alongside many aspects of our culture it has become a mass-produced, industrialized product, stripped of its humanity and meaning.

But there is a way to reclaim bread’s essence, to restore its purpose, and to reconnect with our roots. It is through the embrace of sourdough bread, made by our own hands. Hands that care deeply about the craft, the ingredients, and the community.

When we make our own bread, we can make a conscious decision to support the small-scale farmers who grow the wheat and nourish the soil, and the millers who grind the grain into flour. When we make our own sourdough we can support our city, the natural world of which we are a part, and a culture of quality.

Beyond nourishing our environment and our culture, sourdough nourishes our bodies. Sourdough’s three simple ingredients – flour, salt, and water – are familiar to us. Its long fermentation process has the ability to unlock nutrients in the flour and neutralize gut-irritating compounds, such as gluten, making it far easier to digest than factory-made bread. And that process imparts a distinctive sourness and aroma unique to sourdough that cannot be replicated with industrial yeast.

Sourdough bread also nourishes our soul. It speaks to our deeper human need for connection. By choosing to make our own sourdough, we become part of a tradition that predates recorded history. We become one of the living heirs who carry the craft forward.

We can also honour the committed farmers and millers who go above and beyond to provide a product that retains its quality when all others have traded purity for profit. Not only is the bread better for what they do, but the land is better off too. Humanity and bread are so deeply interwoven that the quality of the bread we consume is symbolic of the quality of our culture.

So let us make our bread with intention, gratitude, and joy. Let us savour every bite as we appreciate the many bread bakers that came before us. Let us nourish ourselves and our communities, celebrate our heritage and create a richer, more meaningful world by making our own sourdough – one loaf at a time.