Why Sourdough

During the Klondike Gold Rush of the 19th century, fortune-seeking prospectors learned to survive the deadly Alaskan winters. Sourdough bread and pancakes became an excellent source of sustainable nutrition for adventurers who traveled north to try their luck in the wilds of Alaska.

With their prowess for sourdough cooking—and ability to survive the frigid Alaskan winters—these rugged, gold-digging prospectors became known as “Alaskan Sourdoughs.”

I learned about Alaskan Sourdoughs during my freshman year in college. Immediately inspired, I quit school and headed north to seek my own adventure.

In the dead of winter, I left Chicago and traveled north via planes, trains, and automobiles toward the Arctic Circle. I planned to live along the banks of a remote wilderness river called The Little Beaver 120 miles southwest of The Polar Bear Capital of the World, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.

I was 20 years old.

There were no trails, roads, or utilities. To find my destination on the remote river, I used a topographic map and Silva compass. Once there, I built a rustic log cabin for shelter from the deadly cold about 500 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

To live off the grid, isolated from civilization in my newly built log cabin, I had to hunt, fish, chop wood, and carry water daily. I learned to cook with sourdough starter, whipping up hearty bread, pancakes, and biscuits from scratch. My recipes were delicious.

On my eventual return to civilization, a book publisher learned about my adventure and offered me a publishing deal to write a sourdough cookbook. I accepted.

My book “Cooking The Sourdough Way” was published in 1994 and enters its third edition in 2024.