Sourdoughs International

The first thing that I want to do is to give you a little bit of background into Sourdough International.  Ed Wood received a San Francisco culture from his grandmother while in college at Oregon State and had never forgotten the breads that culture produced!  When he married his wife Jean he introduced her to sourdough bread.  Jean became equally enthralled and the two of them decided to investigate why sourdough breads were so different from other breads available for purchase.  Eventually life led Ed and Jean to Saudi Arabia where both of them discovered that there were many small bakeries scattered abound in desert towns producing flat breads tasting very much like sourdough.  They started collecting sough samples from tiny ancient bakeries that had never even heard of commercial yeast and brought them along when they returned to the U.S.  They soon decided to send samples to home bakers everywhere and Sourdough International was born!  They have written several books and have been in National Geographic.  Unfortunately, Ed lost Jean to an aneurism in October 2010 just before their last book was finished.  To date Sourdough International have received orders from home bakers in over 75 countries, from Australia to Russia testifying to the new widespread interest in real sourdough.  And just this past October the Documentary Department of the Korean Broadcasting System came to see the Sourdough International facilities in person.  They spent three days filming Ed's methods.  This is such a huge accomplishment!  So stay tuned to see what is next for Sourdough International.  Next week I am going to fill you in on my first sourdough proofing ever.  So bake, bake bake!!!