WITH A NAME LIKE LACTOBACILLI...:

Bread winner: For successful sourdough, time is the magic ingredient (Linda G. Kincaid, May 2, 2007, Boston Herald)

"Sourdough baking is a lot of fun, it gives you a distinct taste, and you get a wonderful amount of sharing when you bake bread and share it with your family," said Mike Avery, a Colorado baker who’s been providing recipes, advice and cookbooks at sourdoughhome.com since 2002.

Every loaf begins with sourdough starter, a culture of wild yeast and a bacteria called lactobacilli. The starter is a living thing: You feed it a little flour and water every day and the starter gets busy -- as the lactobacilli break down the flour’s complex carbohydrates, they produce sugars that feed the yeast, which makes the carbon dioxide bubbles that leaven your dough. And as the lactobacilli are working away, they spin off organic acids that give sourdough its complex, tangy flavor.

While you can easily create your own starter at home, Avery advises novices to start with a purchased starter (see accompanying story for sources). That way, you learn to care for the starter and bake with it; you can always make your own starter later.