What Is Craig's Sourdough — and Why Do Our Recipe's Take Longer?

There are few foods quite as simple as bread.

Flour. Water. Salt.

And yet, once sourdough enters the conversation, something very simple suddenly seems to acquire its own language: starter, fermentation, hydration, proving, feeding, wild yeast, bacteria, discard.

At Craig’s, ours begins with Julia.

Julia is our sourdough starter — a living culture of flour and water that has been kept alive, fed and used to help make our sourdough bread.

And when we say living, we mean it.

A sourdough starter is home to naturally occurring yeasts and beneficial bacteria. Given fresh flour, water, the right temperature and enough time, those microorganisms ferment the dough. They produce gases that help the bread rise while also developing the flavour, aroma and texture that make sourdough different from an ordinary loaf.

It is an old way of making bread.

Long before packets of commercial yeast appeared on supermarket shelves, bakers relied on naturally fermented cultures to make their dough rise.

The principle hasn't changed very much.

So why does a sourdough recipe take longer?

Mostly because nature doesn't work to a stopwatch.

Commercial baker's yeast is designed to work quickly and predictably. Add it to dough under the right conditions and fermentation gets underway rapidly.

A sourdough starter works differently.

The yeasts and bacteria within the starter need time to become active and ferment the dough. Temperature, flour, water, the condition of the starter and even the weather can influence how quickly that happens.

A dough that moves beautifully one day can take a little longer on another.

That isn't necessarily a fault.

It is fermentation.

And fermentation needs time.

What happens while the dough is waiting?

Quite a lot.

During fermentation, microorganisms begin breaking down carbohydrates in the flour. Carbon dioxide is produced, helping create the structure and air pockets inside the loaf.

At the same time, organic acids develop.

They are responsible for much of sourdough's characteristic flavour — although properly made sourdough doesn't necessarily need to taste aggressively sour.

Fermentation also changes the texture of the dough and contributes to the crust, crumb and aroma of the finished bread.

This is why sourdough is difficult to rush.

You can make bread faster.

You just can't make slow fermentation happen quickly.

Is sourdough always sour?

No.

Despite the name, sourdough can range from very mild to distinctly tangy.

The flavour depends on the starter, fermentation time, flour, temperature and the way the dough is handled.

Some sourdoughs are deliberately quite acidic. Others have a much gentler flavour.

At Craig’s, we prefer sourdough that still tastes first and foremost like good bread.

The fermentation should add character, not overwhelm everything else.

Is sourdough healthier?

Sourdough is often surrounded by fairly ambitious health claims.

Some have a reasonable basis; others get exaggerated.

Fermentation does change the structure of bread and may affect digestibility and how some nutrients are made available. But sourdough is still bread, and its nutritional characteristics depend greatly on the flour and recipe used.

It is also important to remember that ordinary sourdough made from wheat flour still contains gluten and is not suitable for people who need to avoid gluten for medical reasons.

For us, the more useful reason to make sourdough is much simpler.

It produces bread with flavour, texture and character that are difficult to reproduce with a very fast process.

Then there is the starter

A sourdough starter needs looking after.

It is regularly refreshed with flour and water so that the microorganisms remain active.

Leave it unattended for too long and it becomes sluggish. Change its environment and it may behave differently. Feed it well and it can spring back into life with remarkable enthusiasm.

Which is one reason people become strangely attached to their starters.

Some starters have been maintained by families and bakeries for years or even generations.

Ours is Julia.

She has developed her own rhythms, preferences and — we sometimes think — moods.

People regularly ask Craig’s whether they can take some Julia home with them.

The answer, eventually, will be yes.

But a starter being shared beyond our own kitchen needs to be strong, predictable and stable enough that someone can successfully continue looking after it at home.

Julia isn't quite ready for adoption yet.

We are aiming for early 2027.

Does sourdough have to be handmade?

Sourdough is a method of fermentation, not a romantic lifestyle.

There is sometimes a tendency to imagine that “real” sourdough must be made entirely by hand in a tiny stone bakery while someone wearing a linen apron gazes thoughtfully at a wood-fired oven.

The reality of a working bakery is rather more practical.

Equipment can mix dough. Refrigeration can help control fermentation. Ovens can provide consistent temperatures.

What matters is the fermentation process, the ingredients, the handling of the dough and the quality of the finished bread.

There is nothing particularly authentic about making work harder simply for the sake of appearances.

Why we continue with it

Sourdough asks for something modern food production doesn't always particularly like giving.

Time.

It can't always be accelerated conveniently. It doesn't behave identically every day. And it requires someone to understand what the dough is doing rather than simply following the clock.

But that is also its appeal.

At Craig’s, sourdough has become part of a broader approach to food that values proper processes where they genuinely make a difference.

Not because something being slow automatically makes it better.

But because sometimes the time is doing the work.

And with sourdough, it most certainly is.