Karl De Smedt (Sourdough Library) Well Seasoned Librarian Season 9 Episode 16

About the Library

The future of Bread lies in its past, a tour in the only sourdough library

Bread! It feeds, it crackles, it breathes. When you bite into it, you dive into a wealth of heritage and a whirlwind of a story written with only a few basic ingredients. Flour, water, fermentation, and time. Over 250 generations of bakers like you have kneaded their hearts and their souls into these breads and made it their own. New recipes, new ingredients, and a string of baking techniques have all strived for one thing: to bake the best possible bread. In the sourdough library we are collecting and preserving this unique heritage from the past.

Karls Bio:

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a baker-confectioner. After graduating in 1988 from the bakery/confectionery school in Brussels, I worked for six years as a patissier in a bakery in Brussels. In 1994 I started to work for Puratos as a test baker in the lab. That’s when I encountered the very first sourdough in my life and baked my very first sourdough bread. Since then I have worked in different departments as a technical advisor, product, training & communication manager. In 2013 we inaugurated our sourdough library. The first and only of its kind in the world. As the sourdough librarian I am on a quest for sourdough. Preserving biodiversity for the future and sharing insights into this century-old baking tradition is what I like most about what I do today.

The Sourdough Library https://www.puratos.com/commitments/next-generation/product-heritage/sourdough-library

The Sourdough Library https://www.puratos.com/commitments/next-generation/product-heritage/sourdough-library

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This episode is sponsored by Culinary Historians of Northern California, a Bay Area educational group dedicated to the study of food, drink, and culture in human history. To learn more about this organization and its work, please visit its website at www.chnorcal.org

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