leavening agent; bread made from this leaven
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Sourdough Definition from Language, Idioms & Slang Dictionaries & Glossaries
Noun
1. a leaven of dough in which fermentation is active; used by pioneers for making bread
(hypernym) leaven, leavening
2. a settler or prospector (especially in western United States or northwest Canada and Alaska)
(hypernym) settler, colonist
(classification) West, western United States
Adjective
1. leavened with a small amount of fermented dough; "sourdough bread"
(synonym) sourdough(a)
(similar) leavened
Sourdough Definition from Encyclopedia Dictionaries & Glossaries
Sourdough is a dough containing a Lactobacillus culture, usually in symbiotic combination with yeasts. It is one of two principal means of biological leavening in bread baking, along with the use of cultivated forms of yeast (Saccharomyces). It is of particular importance in baking rye-based breads, where yeast does not produce comparable results. In comparison with yeast-based breads, it produces a distinctively tangy or sour taste, mainly because of the lactic acid produced by the lactobacilli; the actual medium, known as "starter" or levain, is in essence an ancestral form of pre-ferment. In English-speaking countries, where wheat-based breads predominate, sourdough is no longer the standard method for bread leavening. It was gradually replaced, first by the use of barm from beermaking, then, after the confirmation of germ theory by Louis Pasteur, by cultured yeasts. However, some form of natural leaven is still used by many specialty bakeries.
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