Classic Sourdoughs (31 page)

I call this culture La Giza, Queen of the Pyramids. It came from an ethnic bakery in the shadow of the pyramids. Jean overcame the suspicions of the baker by making friends first with a goat tied nearby, then with a ten-year-old boy attached to the goat. It is undoubtably the same culture we captured several years later in the same area for the National Geographic Society that is said to have fed thirty thousand pyramid builders. Dough made from this culture rises very well and is moderately sour. I have used it for all the Middle Eastern breads described in this book and it does the same good job with all the other breads I have experiemented with. It is becoming increasingly popular as home bakers stumble across it. It’s a sleeper and has a fascinating history.

Bahrain is thought by many to be the ancient Garden of Eden. Since antiquity it has been a place where East meets West and to this day it is a curious mixture of the oldest and the newest. Our Bahrain sourdough culture is from the oldest of the old. It rises well and is one of the most sour we’ve encountered.

In the twentieth century, the Saudis completely transformed their country from a country of villages to a country of modern cities the equal of any in the world. But the desert Bedouin have survived that transformation almost unchanged. The hospital I worked in was built fifteen miles from Riyadh to supply modern medical care to the Saudi Arabian National Guard and their families. The Guard, all Bedouin, settled near the hospital and brought their shops and souks with them. One was a bakery that produced flatbreads straight from the desert. They also produce spit-roasted chicken, and the place was known by us expatriates as Chicken Charlie’s. This is where we found our desert sourdough; it rises moderately well and has one of the most distinctive flavors of all the cultures.