Cultured Kitchen: What Yogurt and Sourdough Have in Common
Apr 22 | Written By Sabrina Huizar
A poetic, microbial love letter to fermentation
In one bowl, I’m stirring warm milk with a spoonful of yesterday’s yogurt.
In another, I’m folding dough—soft, stretchy, and smelling faintly of the wild yeast I’ve nurtured for weeks.
Yogurt and sourdough.
Dairy and grain.
Two different worlds.
And yet, the more time I spend with both, the more I realize: they’re speaking the same language.
They Begin the Same Way: With Trust
At their core, yogurt and sourdough both start with a leap of faith.
You take something simple—milk or flour and water—and add culture. You tuck it away somewhere warm. And then… you wait.
You trust that invisible things are happening. That the life you can’t see is busy transforming the life you can.
You don’t rush it. You just create the conditions, and step back.
They Thrive on Ritual
Both yogurt and sourdough thrive on rhythm. Feeding. Folding. Watching. Waiting.
You learn the feel of a properly stretched dough, the look of a well-set yogurt. You come to recognize the smells—the tartness, the hint of sour, the funk that means things are alive and well.
There’s comfort in the repetition. A kind of meditative stillness in the stirring, the stretching, the scraping of culture into warm milk or bubbly starter into fresh flour.
These small acts of care? They’re more than technique. They’re relationship.
They Teach You to Pay Attention
Fermentation isn’t loud. It doesn’t shout at you. It doesn’t ping your phone.
It whispers.
It asks you to pause.
To notice the bubbles on the surface.
To smell the shift from sweet to tangy.
To feel, literally, how things change over time.
In a world of instant everything, yogurt and sourdough are gentle teachers of presence.
They Are Wild and Ancient and Ours
Yogurt and sourdough connect us to something older than any trend or recipe.
They are the original slow food. The ancient way.
Passed down in kitchens that didn’t need thermometers or timers—just instinct, memory, and practice.
And the best part?
They’re still here. Still bubbling on countertops. Still rising in bowls. Still feeding us.
Fermentation doesn’t belong to experts. It belongs to anyone willing to listen, wait, and care.
The Cultured Kitchen is a Living Kitchen
Whether I’m feeding my sourdough starter or spooning warm yogurt into a jar, I feel it every time—this is more than food prep. It’s a form of communion.
With microbes.
With history.
With myself.
A cultured kitchen isn’t just about what you make. It’s about how you move. How you listen. How you show up for something quiet, humble, and alive.
So if you’ve ever wondered what yogurt and sourdough have in common, the answer is this:
Everything that matters.
Patience.
Care.
Slowness.
Transformation.
They are different songs in the same language—one that speaks of care, time, and the deep magic of making something from scratch.
Stay tuned—and stay cultured.
Ancient Einkorn Sourdough Starter Culture
from $15.00
Amasi Mesophilic Heirloom Yogurt Starter Culture
from $15.00
