Our Sourdough Starter "Sofia's" Origin Story

I’ve been a little hesitant to share our family sourdough starter aka Sofia but my wife finally convinced me to share it with the world. I think my great-grandfather would’ve wanted Sofia to be shared as well.

Sofia (our family sourdough starter) - has been passed down from my great-grandfather to my grandfather to my father and now to me. I will give you guys a shorter version of the story to keep it from being too long.

Here is “Sofias” origin story told to me by my father.

My great-grandfather Antonio, who is originally from Sicily, Italy, migrated to New York when he was 10 with my great-great-grandfather, great-great-grandmother and siblings in the very early 1900s. They lived in New York for about 10 years, where my great-great-grandfather worked construction on bridges. Around 1910 they migrated west to San Francisco where my great-great and great-grandfather worked as fisherman at Fisherman’s Wharf. They worked as deckhands. Around 1916 my great-grandfather, Antonio, quit working as a deckhand and started working as a baker. This is where he acquired our family sourdough starter. He named the sourdough starter after his wife “Sofia”. Since then “Sofia” has been passed down to my grandfather, Marco, and then to my father, Anthony, and now to me. Sofia has been in our family ever since.

The original jar the sourdough starter was kept in is still in our family. This jar is also a family heirloom and has been passed down for generations along with this story. It still has the date 1916 and Sofia carved on the top . That’s when Sofia was started.

Sofia is very active and makes very good sourdough breads, sourdough French breads, sourdough brioche breads and many other delicious sourdough baked goods with a very lovely flavor.

 

We still have the original jar my great-grandfather kept "Sofia" in. It is now our family heirloom.