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Breads & baking

Sourdough

Sourdough is made with flour and water, sometimes with sugar, milk, apple, or potato. Cooks use it as a leavener.

  • May contain dairy
  • May contain milk

About the plain ingredient, not packaged products; general information, not medical advice. Details

Cooked most in
Europe
Top country
Finland
Sourdough, whole

Photo: Agelaia · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

In the kitchen

How to use sourdough

Typical ways to cook or use it

  • Leaven

Made from

Preparing it

To start a culture, mix flour and water and leave them somewhere warm for a week or two. Feed the culture regularly with flour and water to keep it active. Typically, feed the starter 4 to 12 hours before adding it to dough.

Cooking with it

Sourdough dough generally takes longer to rise than dough made with baker's yeast. Protect the starter from excessive heat, which kills it.

Around the world

Where sourdough is cooked

2 dishes in the catalogue use sourdough. Here is where they come from.

Dishes by continent

Countries whose dishes use it most

Counts are catalogued dishes from each country that list sourdough among their ingredients.

Origins

  1. 1898 · United States and Canada

    The sourdough tradition reached Alaska and Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush.

On the table

Dishes made with sourdough

2 dishes in the catalogue use it.

  • Sour rye soup

    Poland

  • Hapanlohko

    Finland

Dish lists come from Wikidata; a dish counts when its recorded ingredients include sourdough.

Good to know

Diet and allergens: sourdough in detail

These notes describe the plain ingredient. Packaged and prepared products vary, so read the label; for allergies and medical diets ask a doctor or dietitian.
Allergens
Sometimes milk (only when the optional ingredient is used)
Animal origin
Sometimes dairy (only when the optional ingredient is used)

Around the world

What sourdough is called

Names in 57 languages, from Wikidata.

  • Spanish

    masa madre · fermento de masa ácida · levadura madre

  • French

    levain panaire

  • Italian

    lievito naturale · Lievito madre · Pasta acida · Lievito acido

  • Portuguese

    massa lêveda · massa fermentada

  • German

    Sauerteig · Weizensauer · Spontansauer · Natursauerteig

  • Dutch

    zuurdesemstarter · Zuurdeeg

  • Greek

    προζύμι

  • Turkish

    Ekşi mayalı ekmek

  • Russian

    хлебная закваска · закваска хлебная

  • Polish

    zakwas chlebowy

  • Arabic

    خبز عجينة متخمرة

  • Persian

    نان خمیر ترش

Show all 57 languages

  • Albanian

    brumë

  • Aragonese

    Emprenyatuera

  • Armenian

    խմորիչ

  • Bangla

    সাওয়ারডো

  • Basque

    Legamia natural

  • Belarusian

    хлебная закваска

  • Belarusian (Taraskievica orthography)

    закваска · квасок · хлебная закваска

  • Bulgarian

    Квас

  • Cantonese

    酸種包

  • Catalan

    rent natural · massa mare

  • Chinese

    老麵 · 老面 · 酵头

  • Corsican

    ruime

  • Czech

    kvásek · startér (moderně)

  • Danish

    surdej

  • Egyptian Arabic

    العجين المخمر

  • Esperanto

    acidpasto

  • Estonian

    tainas lihtsalt

  • Faroese

    súrdeiggj

  • Finnish

    taikinajuuri · juuri

  • Galician

    masa nai

  • Hebrew

    מחמצת שאור · מחמצת · שאור

  • Hungarian

    kovász

  • Icelandic

    Súrdeig

  • Indonesian

    Adonan asam

  • Irish

    taos géar

  • Japanese

    サワードウ · サワーブレッド · サワードウブレッド · サワードウ・ブレッド

  • Javanese

    Roti asem

  • Korean

    사워도

  • Latvian

    maizes ieraugs

  • Lower Sorbian

    kwas

  • Luxembourgish

    Deessem

  • Malayalam

    പുളിമാവ്

  • Neapolitan

    Criscito

  • Norwegian Bokmål

    surdeig · Surbrød

  • Norwegian Nynorsk

    surdeig

  • Occitan

    levam

  • Punjabi

    ਖ਼ਮੀਰੇ ਆਟੇ ਦੀ ਬਰੈਡ

  • Romanian

    pâine cu maia

  • rsk

    Кващок

  • Serbian

    Кисело тесто

  • Serbian (Latin)

    комлов

  • sje

    suvresdájgan

  • Slovak

    Kvások

  • Slovenian

    droži

  • Swedish

    surdeg

  • Walloon

    Lewin

Sources and credits

Data

  • GlobeCooks editorial: descriptions, kitchen notes and classification, written by GlobeCooks from checked sources
  • Wikidata: names, classification and dishes (CC0 1.0)
  • Wikimedia Commons: photos
  • Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Wikidata item: Q904889

Photos

Photo: Agelaia · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons