Visited a bakery in Philly and their sourdough starter was 80 years old

I was in Philadelphia last week and stopped into this tiny bakery where the owner showed me their starter that's been going since the 1940s. She said they just feed it rye flour and water every morning, nothing fancy. Has anyone here kept a starter going that long or know someone who has?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_nina4d ago

Since the 1940s" sounds impressive until you think about it. That starter has survived multiple owners, countless flour batches, and probably a few fridges dying on them. I'm not buying the hype. It's flour and water, not a magic potion. You could throw any week-old starter on the counter and it'd taste exactly the same after a few good feedings. People get too attached to the story and forget the science doesn't back it up.

drew_chen4d ago

Calling it just flour and water misses the point though. Yeah, the science says the microbes are basically the same after a few feedings, but the flavor comes from the specific yeast and bacteria that develop over time in that particular environment. A week-old starter isn't going to have the same depth as one that's been living in the same kitchen for decades, absorbing all those local airborne particles. It's not magic, it's just that the microbial community gets more complex and stable the longer it's around. You can taste the difference if you do a side by side, trust me.

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