Sujit Sumitran, 58, an executive coach from Goa, has been championing sourdough, a process of bread-making that goes back 5,000 years. In an interview with TMM, he explains his connection with sourdough, dynamics of bread world and the uniqueness of his bread.
Sujit Sumitran, How did you start making sourdough?
It all started in 2012, I was done with my full-fledged job in a large innovation company and felt the need to slow down and do more than just work. I decided to chuck the job and start my own little consultancy practice. While I was at home, I spent a lot of my leisure time in the kitchen and one fine day, my wife came home and talked about a bread making machine and before I knew it, it was in my home. Though I bought it for her, I couldn’t keep away from it and I kept experimenting with it. Before I knew it, I had started baking bread and it took about a year to play around with various versions of commercially yeasted bread. Finally, the only area that was left was sourdough, which to me, is the final frontier when it comes to bread making.
How your sourdough bread is different from others?
The one you get at a bakery are normally made with fresh yeast and the ones available at big commercial units contain commercial yeast. While the one I make contains a sourdough culture that is 100 percent home-made. This culture is nothing but a mix of flour and water that is fermented for a few days, with every day some portion of it being replaced with a fresh mix of flour and water.
What keeps you passionate about sourdough when there is a variety of bread easily available in the market?
For me, it’s a part of my existence now. I am hooked on to it because I get to play with something that is alive. When I make bread at home, I know what goes into it, whether whole wheat, ragi, maida, or whatever and then the entire process of making sourdough bread is quite exciting for me. These days I am exploring whole wheat bread as that’s what most Indian are used to. As it is far more nutritious than all purpose flour bread which has a high glycemic index and virtually no fibre content in it. In short, bread that’s healthier.
How challenging is the process of making sourdough?
One needs to understand that sourdough making is a pure process that involves natural ingredients and microorganisms that work at their own pace. It’s a gradual process where flour, water and salt when combined together evolve with time and you feel it growing. All this depends on a number of factors that include temperature, moisture and of course ingredients. In today’s time and age, not too many people set aside time to make slow food. And yet, all of us understand the advantages of slow fermented food. So net, net – it’s all about what you consider important.
How far the bread making industry has changed over the years?
Earlier, in India, leavened bread never featured in the main course. With urbanisation, bread has become an integral part of our meals and now we have a wide range of flours with which one can bake. There are cheap flours that give you mediocre results and then there are expensive but good flours for bread making. These days, a lot of people prefer making fresh, healthy, leavened bread at home and that’s a good sign.
What is so unique about bread making than other forms of cooking?
Real sourdough bread making takes time and that time is utilised in fermenting the bread and making it easier for our bodies to absorb the nutrients present. The actual cooking time (baking) of the bread I bake, is about 3% of the total time involved. How many cooking processes can you think of where the ingredients do almost all the work?
Sujit Sumitran, What are you working with at present?
Well, I am working with two big brands in creating and developing sourdough bread recipes that will be sold commercially and will be available in the market very soon. As an individual, it is therapeutic for me to guide and mentor people in making sourdough bread and creating a market for it in the urban and suburban space. Needless to say, I will continue incorporating newer and more ingredients into sourdough bread to create some magic
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