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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
5 min
30/12/2025
Sourdough is officially part of an Indian kitchen, being used in everything from puffier naan to funkier kulcha to softer appam. This is a creative and flavourful combination of a global technique and a traditional Indian approach.
The growing popularity of different forms of fermented bread across India shows a cultural shift back to a more artisanal, slow-food approach to food preparation and to an understanding of the complete process of fermentation. By combining the ancient techniques of Indian bread-making with contemporary sourdough techniques, home bakers are taking a familiar pantry staple and creating a variety of new products with many flavours.
Fermentation is not a new concept in this culture; we were raised on idli-dosa batters, dhokla batter, appam batter, and the magic of making them, and on jars of kanji fermenting in the sun. As a result of the sourdough phenomenon, many home cooks are now discovering that they have a strong tie to fermentation based upon the taste and texture of fermenting wild yeast into a variety of products. The soft sourness and rounded tanginess of idli batter, appam and even the earthy sourness of homemade curd are all very similar to the flavour of sourdough. Therefore, incorporating sourdough into the vocabulary of Indian breads is not a foreign concept; it is simply an acknowledgement that we already understand fermentation in our day-to-day cooking.
Sourdough kulcha is the dish that has brought sourdough bread to the forefront. People have quickly realised that using a starter creates a soft, pillowy kulcha with a mild tang that won't become dried out like yeast-based kulchas. It reheats and stretches better than yeast-based kulchas, and somehow has a modern and nostalgic flavour at the same time. Plus, you can fill it with aloo, paneer or onion masala, and it behaves just like you would expect.
The batter for appam is based on fermentation, but with sourdough starter, the batter is elevated to something else. The centre of the appam is extremely soft and custard-like, while the edges are crisp and lace-like. This is one of those rare occasions where "global trend meets local dish" seems completely natural. Many home cooks are even utilising the discard (the extra starter) to flavour their dosa batter without putting in any extra work.
Traditionally, naan is made using milk, yoghurt and sometimes yeast, but with sourdough naan, the result is this deep, rich flavour and a more complex bread. The char on a sourdough naan has a smoky flavour, and the crumb stays softer longer than a yeast-based version. Sourdough makes the dough easier to roll out than a yeast version. Some bakers even bake sourdough naan in a cast-iron skillet, with excellent results, rather than using a tandoor.
The ‘desi sourdough loaf’ has become a big hit in Indian culture, highlighting flavours you’d find in Indian cooking, such as methi (fenugreek), ajwain (carom seeds), tadka (tempered garlic), green chilli paste, gunpowder spice mix and others! The combination of sourdough fermentation and Indian flavours creates something very familiar but new at the same time. This will be around for a longer period than just a trend.
Because we are already conditioned to work at making food at home with patience, learning how to incorporate fermentation into our cooking via our cultural flavours, we have easily worked this into a daily rhythm. We make our starter up and place it into our refrigerator overnight in the evening, take it out to bake the next day, and have fun experimenting with it over the weekend. This lifestyle incorporates a slower pace without the need to be pretentious about it; it's about taking what is familiar and recreating it.
The explosion of new ideas in preparing food using sourdough fermentation is just the start; we are day by day creating more and better versions of familiar foods like Bhaturas using sourdough fermentation, and we have an opportunity to use this new style of cooking to add even more richness and variety to our lives.
