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Sonoran-Style Staples

Barrio Sonoran

Sourdough Bread

MAKES  LARGE LOAF

People literally line up around the block at Barrio Bread for Don Guerra’s artisan heritage-grain loaves. He says that this bread recipe especially encapsulates the historyof grains inArizona. In ancient times, the indigenous Tohono O’odham people of the Tucson region ate flatbreads with flours made by milling wild mesquite tree pods. Wheat was introduced during the Spanish Colonial period for breads for religious uses.

The Spanish colonists also introduced naturally leavened sourdough-style bread. White Sonora wheat is a heritage grain brought to the region by Father Kino. During the Civil War, the Pima Indians and their Hispanic neighbors produced and milled millions of pounds of white Sonora wheat for long-distance trade, and theirflour kept thousands of Yankee and Rebel troops from dying of hunger during the last years of that tragic conflict. White Sonora, when grown in the Santa Cruz Valley of Arizona, produces a flour with a relatively high protein content. But it is also low in gluten, making it more agreeable to some gluten-intolerant consumers. In Guerra’s recipe, the Hard Red Spring Wheat flour and the kamut support the gluten structure of the Sonora and mesquite flours. All the flours are available online for purchase.

This is a three-day process—excellent bread takes time—and I don’t mind! You will need a sourdough starter for this recipe, which you can either get online or from a local bakery. The starter will multiply with your local yeast and bacteria, and morph into its own unique being. A proofing basket helps whisk moisture away from the dough to retain its shape. You can use a glass or ceramic bowl instead. You will also need a large Dutch oven for baking. All the measurements for this recipe are by weight in order to get the exact same quantities of the ingredients as Guerra’s. You will need to use a kitchen scale with the measuring units set to grams. Youcan purchase the flours at Barrio Bread’s online store: barriobread.com/grains.html.

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