Our adventure begins with a girl, a happily fed sourdough starter (compliments of a birthday cooking class from her husband at a famous Ann Arbor deli and bakery), and a friend who can’t eat gluten. Or corn. Or dairy. Or meat. (That one by choice.) Said friend is dismayed by the flavor of artificial yeasted GF bread. The conversation climaxes at the question:
Can the superior taste of sourdough exist without wheat?
Next scene: Ann Arbor’s ‘literate’ new bookstore’s cooking section. Our main character is browsing through the eye candy here when she stumbles upon a book called “Gluten Free and Vegan Bread”. Skeptically, she looks inside.
A whole section on Gluten-Free Sourdough?
She reads, and rereads. Visits again. Goes home to attempt this hefty-teff-ty starter with its savory smells and dark, formless shape. An experiment, an odyssey. And it occurs to her, she may need companions on the journey. Hence, a blog.
fermentation lab 