Sourdough bread has been circulated among foodies as a 'trendier' type of bread and recently as a healthier type of bread too but what many people do not realise is that sourdough is a bread in its most natural form and has been baked for thousands of years.

Charismatic artisan baker John Dixon owns a contemporary bakery in Cark called 'Fat Flour Bakery' and live next door. Mr Dixon currently stocks multiple local businesses such as Holker Hall & Gardens, Cartmel Cheeses and Rowleys Catering and he just happens to be a sourdough expert.

Upon arriving at Mr Dixon's bakery, where he bakes almost 20 different types of bread every day, we were greeted with a large jar of his home made 'sourdough starter' which he uses every day to create his extensive varieties of sourdough loaves. Mr Dixon said:

"I cultivated my sourdough starter six years ago by fermenting apple skins and dates then adding flour and water. Now I simply feed it each day with more flour and water and the fermentation process is ongoing, I just cut it down by half every time I feed it. 

"The sourdough starter is alive you see, it needs feeding every day and nurturing, like a child. I give my starter attention and feed it 365 days a year and it has travelled all over the world with me."

In a society where eating habits are often dominated by fad diets, foodie trends and Instagram meal prepping inspiration, the sourdough loaf has become the only bread to be seen eating at London's best brunch spots. This year National Sourdough Bread Day was held on April 1. However, Mr Dixon has been baking and eating sourdough bread for years and lets us know that there is nothing new about the bread. He said:

"Sourdough is the style in which bread that would have been baked thousands of years ago. It is bread in its natural state, made the old fashioned way. The only reason that bread has changed in the last 100 years is because demand grew and bakers needed to produce loaves faster. The ordinary loaves that I bake take around an hour to prove up, but a sourdough can take anywhere between 10-16 hours depending on how hot the oven is."

Many people refuse to eat bread, especially white bread, because of the carbs, gluten and the horrible bloated feeling it gives them. If you are one of these people then sourdough might just be a revelation for you. Mr Dixon said:

"The difference between sourdough and a normal bread is that normal bread contains industrial yeast. Industrial yeast can disagree with some people's stomachs because it's a living enzyme that's inside you and can leave you feeling a bit bloated.

"Sourdough has no industrial yeast in it. It is just flour and water that has been given more time to ferment. All flour contains some natural yeast but it has to be fed as it's alive. Each morning I mix in flour and water and that ferments to unlock the natural yeast, the flour and water creates starch which breaks down in to sugar and yeast loves sugar.

"With a normal bread, giving it the industrial yeast is like giving the bread steroids, it rises very rapidly. Sourdough is a bit more lethargic, even lazy, but this prolonged fermentation means that it is easier to digest and all the nutrients are released. Eating sourdough is actually very healthy as part of a balanced diet."

In March 2016, a culinary show called 'Cooked' took Netflix by storm as American chef Michael Pollan explained the effects that the four natural elements - fire, water, air, and earth - have on raw ingredients. In this documentary, Mr Pollan claims that sourdough bread made correctly is suitable for people suffering with Coeliac disease. He claims that the drawn out fermentation allows the gluten in the bread to be fully broken down and eradicated by the bacteria in the yeast.

As for the best place to try sourdough, it has to be at the Fat Flour Bakery, where Mr Dixon is so highly creative. He said:

"We make plain rye flour sourdoughs, a malted sourdough hybrid which is our best selling bread, in the whole shop. A honey sourdough, garlic sourdough, sea salt and rosemary sourdough which is really special, chilli sourdough, you name it we do plenty of variations on the classic."

Mr Dixon makes an array of gourmet produce and has picked up experience from his travels all over the world. His entrepreneurial skills mean that he has an extensive base of bread-loving clients and as well as running the bakery from Cark, he sells breads at four markets every week. Baking truly is a labour of love, Mr Dixon said.

"We start baking at eight o'clock every evening and bake right through until six the next morning, 365 days a year. Sometime I bake for 72 hours straight at weekends. I don't really sleep, especially as I have a two-year-old little girl now, but I like to see that everything is done properly."

Mr Dixon has exciting plans for opening a pizza takeaway in the next few weeks and plans to run artisan baking workshops from 2017.

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