How old is the oldest bread starter

In one version of the story, Grandpa Herbert was given the starter culture during a trip to Germany by a baker who said it was at least 30 years old at the time. That was in In another version of the tale, a baker who had retired to the local town of Tetbury gifted the family his yeasty concoction.

This baker — also German — is said to have brought it over from Germany after the Second World war. Either way, the family acquired the starter 35 years ago and believe it was at least 30 years old at the time — possibly, much older. It means the bakery is among the best in the biz, when it comes to having a really old, consistently used live starter.

In one of these forums , a UK resident claims their starter dates back to They were given their starter by an American friend, who got it from her college roommate, who got it from another friend, who got it from his grandmother, who said the dough had been in the family since then.

Another baker, Vanessa Kimbell of Northamptonshire , is convinced her starter is over years old. Christensen knows the starter travelled with her great-grandfather around , but she is unsure of its exact origins. Small lumps of yeast and bacteria, often found tucked in the flour sacks of prospectors, were critical during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Christensen laughs at the prospect that the starter, with its newfound fame, might eclipse her own impressive list of accomplishments — including first female mayor of Whitehorse, Commissioner of Yukon and Canadian senator.

The Yukon is a small community. And if you were there and it needed to be done, you did it. Before she bakes, Christensen is careful to set aside a small amount of the mixture, in order to feed it back to the starter in the jar.

During the eight-day holiday, Jews are barred from eating leavened bread ; instead, many will dine on unleavened matzo bread.

Those not celebrating Passover—or hoping to bake exclusively with ancient spores—have plenty of options for getting started with sourdough. Freely available guides for sourdough starters begin with a mix of equal parts water and flour. Set out in a warm place, the solution will catch wild yeast that floats in the air.

With a few days of care, the starter is ready for use. Li for SF Weekly. It even feels like an absurd luxury. Baking bread—especially on a weekday—requires time and energy, and it engenders an idyllic and reassuring feeling of domestic control. Unlike Blackley, Li opted to bake banana bread, another recipe rooted in American history, though much younger than sourdough. Banana bread first emerged in the s, after baking soda and powder became mass produced and the Great Depression pushed people to make use of everything, including overripe bananas.

Theresa Machemer is a freelance writer based in Washington DC.