Ancient Egyptian bread has been resurrected
Sourdough bread is made with a starter called the mother dough—a coupling of yeast and bacteria cultures which is nurtured and continuously fed with flour and water. Starters can be kept alive indefinitely. They are often passed along through generations.
There is one from rural Montana that is 100 years old and was used to make sourdough biscuits over the fire. It was passed down to the current family member by their great-great-grandfather who now offers others the chance to taste it through their Etsy shop.
Another 100-year old starter comes from San Francisco and it is said 5hat the secret to its “crazy” very tangy and extra sour taste is that San Francisco’s unique fog is what created the wild bacteria exclusive and specific to that localized area. It’s also caffeine-free, dye-free, egg-free, fat-free, and gelatin-free.
There is a starter named Bodie that is 233 years old and was inspired by the California gold mining country. With origins dating back to 1840, Bodie is treated like family royalty by the 92-year-old mother of two, who cares for this starter as if it were her child.
The Bavarian Black Death starter from the southernmost part of Germany is over 400 years old. It is said to have been passed down through the generations of one single family who started it around 1633 in a town called, Oberammergau sometime after Germany’s period of the “Black Death.” The bread is a rich black colour—perhaps part of the reason for its name.
There is a generational starter with familial ties from Wales that dates back 1,000 years to the Silk Road Trades era. But there is one even older—an Ancient Egyptian sourdough starter is the oldest starter known to exist.
“Scientists have managed to pull off a Frankenstein maneuver, reviving 4,500-year-old yeast microbes and bringing it to the light of the modern day. This was done to understand the gut bacteria of ancient humans.”
When tech mastermind Seamus Blackley—best known for creating the Xbox but who is also a physicist—came into possession of the 4;500 year old yeast he reached out to a team of scientists to help bring the strain back to life. They resurrected the dough using the same clay pots that were used by the Egyptians to hold beer, bread, and other culinary treats.
https://www.oldest.org/food/sourdough-starters