Do Greeks use sourdough starter?

[d_kakavouli]

I read in a cookbook that Greeks sometimes use a sourdough-like starter to make some of their breads.

I didn't realize this. Also, is this really true?

I do detect a bit of a "flavor" sometimes, like sourdough, when I am eating bread in Greece.

 

[k_tsoukalas]

They do use sourdough starter - they call it Prozimi! In modern times it might be a different story, but buying yeast in a store hadn't always been possible. It takes 1-2 weeks of diligent work to make the starter. Aside from that, I was taught to make bread by preparing a "mother" - where I would prep the initial flour and warm water solution, and actually let it sit on the counter for at least half a day before I make the bread. So, prepare the mother in the morning, prep the dough fully at night, and then let it rise overnight to make the bread in the morning. But in my prep, it has a sourdough-like flavor, but I do use yeast. Making bread this way - I don't have to use as much yeast.

 

[PemiKanavos]

Yes they definitely use sourdough starter. It was not a starter as we know of it. I remember my giagia she used an old piece of dough that she had saved in the fridge wrapped in cloth and then aluminum foil. Right before she would knead her dough, she would cut a piece of dough from the fridge. She would then knead, let it rise a couple of time and then cut of another peice of dough and set it aside and then proceed to shape her bread. After she was done baking she would wrap that piece of dough she set aside put in the fridge for next weeks bread. And I have to say the bread was a dense bread but a sourdoughy (if that’s even a word) flavor That I can still remember today. Yum!