Meet the Man Behind the World’s Only Sourdough Library | Gastro Obscura

According to Karl De Smedt, the man behind the world’s only sourdough library, sourdough belongs to the entire world. Burbling away in refrigerators are over 100 sourdough starters from around the globe, all chosen due to their renown, unusual origins, and often, estimated age.

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[equestrianrosie]

My sister is a HUGE bread nerd and she LOVED THIS! so did I :D

(and if she had a sourdough starter, she'd send it "fo' sho'")

[atlasobscura]

What do you think? Would you send Karl your sourdough starters? Also, how cool is the job title "sourdough librarian"? Sign us up, we're there.

[auberginelover]

I have a 50+ year old starter from my uncle and I live in southeast asia, Borneo. You can have mine to be put in your library. I also have a dried dehydrated starter.

[FailedOrbits]

Also in Italy we actually say "lievito madre", literally mother yeast :)

[reindeercrossing]

I just heard this episode of your podcast! I’m so excited to watch this video!!

[Anna-vrnz]

this is amazing honestly this is the best thing i have seen in a very long long time amazing.

[janschipper]

I wonder what would happen if you mix two different starters. Would it create a more superior starter kind or will they “fight” eachother and with that kill the newly formed starter?

[ddelox]

In Italian is also called "lievito madre" or "pasta madre"

[sirbatracius]

This video made me hungry.... I want some bread...

[TeacherMom]

How beautiful! I just started my family's first sourdough starter about a month or 2 ago. I cook so much bread for my family that I have to keep it out on the counter & feed it every day like a little monster. 😆 My oldest son inspired me to learn! And my cousin sent me a BBC article about you! I am touched by your story & by everyone's sourdough story! 💖🙏🏼😇 How about you make a book featuring a picture of each family & their story with a picture of their starter & the recipe? 😀 You could sell copies of it to raise money for your project/library!

[NA-rszb]

This is phenomenal! What an excellent idea

[SaviourV]

Just wondering: how do you build a place like this? Several years ago, I read about an "ark" of sorts that keeps grains from all over the world, including some rare ones almost thought to be extinct. And one of the grains there was purple sorghum, which, according to the article, was quite nutritious. Maybe sourdough bread made with *THAT* grain might be the best of all.

[dysnomiaA]

Fantastic video. Very satisfying. I just spent some time in their virtual tour. Fantastic stories. This could be a mini-series on television. On a side note, I wish creators of online videos would include the details of the music they use. I find that is almost never the case. Atlas Obscura, can you tell me what music was used for this video, please?

[bellalunaoxox]

Two things I will never understand:
1.) The meaning of life
2.) Why some people don’t like sourdough
Yeah, I just don’t get it.

[bernardinelermite]

Hi, thank you for this very interestng video ! I have a question : how can you insure the integrity of a sourdough once it has travelled away from its birth place ? Ok, you use the same flour as the one that was used to create and maintain the said sourdough. But as soon as you open the container, it will be "contaminated" by your local conditions and micro-organisms, and evolve into something else anyway... doesn't it ? My in-laws in Egypt make sourdough bread, but I doubt that if I take it from them (with some Egyptian flour to feed it) it will remain the same in my much more colder country, and totally different microbian environment...

I have activated a dessicated sourdough bought in a supermarket, and up to now it has given me almost 20 lovely breads. But I doubt it is any longer the same bacterian mixture since I have fed it with a lot of different flours in my home. (I even have been badly sick in the winter, and I made fun of my sourdough catching my cold, lol. I know it can't, be you see what I mean). Would love to have your position about this, thanks in advance !! :-)

[xin-xinmah]

Dear sir, i started this journey of sourdough bread early 2019, because i was fascinated with the character of the bacteria. It is simply amazing how this bacteria react with other ingredients and able to produce a amazing food. Anyway, i am just as fascinated with your library of the sourdough. I have some questions to ask, hope you can answer them.
1. I mixed up all the discard into one container, and i use this to start fresh batch of starter to make my bread. Would such culture behave differently from a culture that is pure?

[paperdave]

Wouldn't the sourdough starters lose their original characteristics and yeast, since the starter is fed by the wild yeast in the air in that particular area? The yeast in the starter gained from it's original location would be replaced fairly quickly by the yeast in the library. I don't see the point.

[CraftyZA]

Oh what I would give for a tour of that place. Might come with a couple hundred sealable test tubes that's been sterilized.
Or to have little mini buns and try the taste from different countries.

[azertyQ]

I've heard that all sourdough's will change over time, wish there was more in this video about that since the claim of just "using the same recipe so it doesn't change" doesn't fit with that.

[victorherron]

How fascinating and wonderful! Well done, sir. As a priest of the Syrian Orthodox Christian Church, I am strongly reminded (and you may find interesting) that our ecclesial cousins of the Assyrian Church of the East have an ancient tradition with regard to the bread of the Holy Eucharist, which they call Malca, or Holy Leaven. "A small portion of this is mixed with the dough from which the bread of the Eucharist is made, and it is claimed that this Holy Leaven . . . is derived from the Apostles themselves." This small snippet is from "The Bread of the Eucharist, by Reginald Wooley, London, 1913, available in its entirety as a PDF from The Internet Archive, for anyone interested in the details. The chapter dedicated to the Assyrian tradition runs about 20 pages, most of them pertaining to ritual matters, the Apostolic Legend about 4 of them. But I'm afraid they would never give up any of their Holy Leaven to your museum, as it is considered a sacred substance, carefully protected and never to be handled outside of that sacerdotal context. Best wishes from the USA.