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The book, Classic Sourdoughs by Ed Wood, insures that sourdough bakers are familiar with the fermentation techniques of traditional sourdoughs that have
produced naturally leavened breads for centuries. Wood has developed many new methods to produce better sourdoughs without commercial yeast. Those methods and techniques are the backbone of Classic
Sourdoughs.
Wood's book tells the baker how to produce exquisite sourdoughs using smaller amounts of authentic sourdough culture with longer proofing times at either room
temperature or higher temperatures with the proofing box. These long proofing times produce better flavors and texture.
There are surprises for even the experienced baker. Wood will convince you that unbleached all-purpose flours produce better sourdough breads than flours from hard
red winter or spring wheat. And he will tell you why. Have you ever envied the sourdoughs produced by artisan bakers in their masonry ovens? Wood will show you
how to do it in your own conventional oven.
The bread machine section describes how to produce authentic sourdoughs with long proofing times in any machine. And the method does not require using the "dough cycle" and forming loaves by hand.
The section on ingredients has directions for using flax, soy flours, kamut, spelt, bulgur, organic flours, cranberries and others
This 215 page book has more than 90 sourdough recipes.
THE AUTHOR'S QUALIFICATIONS
Ed Wood is an M.D. pathologist with a background in nutrition. He pursued a Ph.D. at
Cornell where he studied under Dr. Clive McCay, one of the foremost pioneers in nutrition research. In 1983 Dr. Wood became Chairman of Pathology in a new hospital
near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A particular class of truly unique organisms had long ago captured his imagination, the organisms of sourdough that produced man's bread for 5
,000 years. Knowing that the Middle East was the historic birthplace of bread he began a quest for sourdough cultures passed down through generations of bakers
from the beginning of civilization. His adventures, ranging from the humorous to the serious, produced a collection of sourdough cultures and recipes from around the
world dating back to antiquity. Four years and hundreds of baking experiments later, he produced the first book on the science and art of sourdough.
In 1993 he collaborated with Egyptologist, Dr. Mark Lehner, to determine how man made his first leavened bread in Egypt, a project supported by the National
Geographic Society. (National Geographic Magazine, January, 1995).
1993-94 Giza annual Report
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