Sourdough Starter Workshop & Tasting

Wed, June 8, 2022

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Join us in the Local Roots test kitchen as we learn, bake, and eat alongside our favorite Professor of Sustainability and the author of Sourdough Culture, Eric Pallant. For lovers of baking and bread-eating alike, this is a chance to learn the secrets behind the bread you see in the grocery store and the science & history of making sourdough bread at home. We'll explore how the conventional food system has distorted our perception of quality and flavor of everyday bread (shoutout to Wonder bread!) and taste-test varieties of freshly baked sourdough to discover new flavor profiles.

You'll go home with all the ingredients to start your sourdough making journey, insider tips & tricks from your fave sourdough professor, a historic sourdough starter to bake at home, and new connections with fellow food lovers in the community.

Whether you're a sourdough-making expert or new to the baking game, all are welcome to join us in geeking out about bread as we explore a more flavorful, sustainable food system together.

Your Ticket Includes

• Workshop led by Professor Eric Pallant
• Taste tests of freshly baked sourdough varieties
• Your very own vintage sourdough starter to make bread like you've never tasted before (circa 1893 and 1960 starters!)
• 2 lb bag of stone-ground all-purpose flour from NY
• Written step-by-step directions from Professor Pallant about how to feed your sourdough starter
• Hardcover copy of Sourdough Culture (optional) — enjoy a 15% discount on your copy of Sourdough Culture when you add it to your ticket!

Meet Your New Sourdough Professor

Eric is the author of Sourdough Culture: The History of Bread Making from Ancient to Modern Bakers. He is a two-time Fulbright Scholar, double award-winning professor, and the Christine Scott Nelson Endowed Professor of Environmental Science and Sustainability at Allegheny College. He is acknowledged for his skill in weaving research narratives into compelling stories for the Gresham Lecture Series, London, bread symposia, podcasts, and articles for magazines such as Gastronomica, Sierra, and Science.

About the Book

Sourdough Culture presents the history and science of sourdough bread baking, from its discovery more than six thousand years ago to its worldwide popularity today. This compelling and engaging narrative is accompanied by recipes spanning millennia and traversing continents to highlight an array of approaches, traditions, and methods to sourdough bread baking.

Praise for Sourdough Culture: A History of Bread Making from Ancient to Modern Bakers

"Sourdough Culture is a tour de force of social, economic, political and gastronomic history that is both meticulously researched and highly readable."

–Stanley Ginsberg, author of The Rye Baker

“If you only ever read one book about bread, this is the book. Expansive, authoritative, charming, fascinating, delicious, and leavened with stories, Pallant’s Sourdough Culture is a must read.”

—Rob Dunn, author of Delicious: The Evolution of Flavor and How It Made Us Human

“If you’re not already in love with bread making, you will be after this book.”

—Iliana Regan, author of Burn the Place and founder and owner of Milkweed Inn