Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation

Michael Pollan’s book.

url: http://www.amazon.com/Cooked-Natural-Transformation-Michael-Pollan/dp/0143125338/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451583120

Excerpts

Take some flour, preferably a fifty-fifty mixture of white and whole grain, and mix it by hand in a glass bowl with some warm water until you have something that feels like a smooth pancake batter. Cover the bowl with a cloth and have it in a cool spot for two or three days. If by then nothnig has happened, wait a few more days and check it again.

…

one of the many mysteries of sourdough culture is the origin of its resident microbes, some of which—like the all-important Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis—have never been found anywhere on earth except in a dourdough bread culture.