Sourdough microorganisms biodiversity:
collection & understanding

Sourdough is made by a consortium of yeasts and bacteria that together deliver a typical taste, flavor and texture to breads. These typical aspects are appreciated around the world.

At Lesaffre we work to understand how the diversity in sourdough composition influences these aspects. Part of this work is knowing which bacteria and yeast are present in artisanal sourdoughs.

We employed state of the art methods as well as classical cultivation approaches to identify the micro-organisms in sourdough originating from China and eastern Europe.

This work highlights that sourdoughs share globals or regional commonalities.

The well known sourdough bacterial species Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis* as well as the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are globally present.