Sourdough White Bread

The earliest leavened bread baked by the Slavs was a type of sourdough. A lump of dough was reserved from each bread-baking and allowed to ferment, then used as the starter for the next batch. Even today classic recipes for yeast-raised dough begin with an opara, or starter, to add that faint taste of sour the Russians so love. This bread is especially aromatic as it bakes, reminding one of early accounts of St. Petersburg, where the stirring odor of freshly baked bread drifted down Nevsky