‘There is a lot of pride in baking’: Iqaluit bread enthusiasts have 1st meeting

A few months ago, Sandi Chan’s friend Matthew asked her if she had sourdough starter.

Chan was confused.

“Should I have one? Do I look like someone with sourdough starter?” she said in an interview on Monday.

Chan remembered that in 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic that ushered in an era of isolation and sourdough baking, another friend gave her some sourdough bread starter named Princess Doughanna II.

Back then, Chan didn’t bake with it.

“Everyone was making sourdough and I didn’t want to be part of the flour shortage,” she said.

Sourdough Club members exchange their starters during the club’s meeting on Monday. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)

But since that conversation a few months ago, Chan has become a proud bread maker.

“He recognized a sourdough baker in me,” she said of her friend Matthew.

Making sourdough requires a starter, which is a mixture of water and flour that ferments with yeast naturally found in the environment. Some bakers keep their starters alive for years.

Chan took her new love of sourdough to the community last month, forming a Sourdough Club mandated to “appreciate sourdough making in Iqaluit,” she wrote in the club’s first Facebook post on Feb. 6.

As of Tuesday, the Facebook page has 43 bread enthusiasts who share photos of their loaves and starters.

And on Monday, the club had its first official meeting at the Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre with seven people attending.

Listening to a song, Make It with You by the American rock band Bread, attendees sampled different loaves and talked about the significance of this ancient recipe.

“It kind of feels like a wine tasting night,” Chan said.

Sourdough Club bread is on display at the Iqaluit Qajuqturvik Community Food Centre on Monday. (Photo by Arty Sarkisian)

Along with her Princess Doughanna II, others brought their own starters with names like Preserved Oranges and Mr. Stifler.

The most passionate of the members also brought their books about bread, including Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes, by Jeffrey Hamelman and Tartine Bread, by Chad Robertson.

“It’s my favourite book about anything ever,” Joseph Murdoch-Flowers, executive director of the food centre, said of the Hamelman book during the meetup.

Chan said she recognizes there’s a lot of pride in baking, so not everyone who comes to the club’s gatherings has to bring their own loaf.

“You can just be an enthusiast or an aficionado,” she said.

The club’s next meeting date is not yet set, but it will probably take place in April at the food centre, Chan said.