EP 47 From Starter to Finish: Dough Does It All

<p><span>With as few as three ingredients, dough can transform into some of the world’s most seminal dishes - pizza, pasta, bread, and more. Join As We Eat as we rise to the occasion and dish up some fascinating history and cultural impacts of dough.</span></p><h4><strong>The Limitless Capacity of Dough</strong></h4><p><span>Dough has a nearly limitless capacity depending on its ingredients, leavening or fermenting process, or how the dough is shaped and cooked. Called “the spark that led to the development of state and large political units,” a humble bowl of dough represents not only all the potential of what it might become, but also as a reminder of how much humans relied upon basic foodstuffs to imagine, build, and sustain whole civilizations. In this episode of As We Eat, Leigh and Kim take you on a journey through the history of dough and its mainstay ingredients and techniques. We also discuss how dough has its place within nearly every cuisine across the globe, and still grows its impact every day.</span></p><h4><strong>A Culinary Building Block</strong></h4><p><span>Dough is a culinary building block that enriches our lives from basic nutrition to agricultural development to large-scale trade. </span></p><p><span>As a mother to all manner of popular food mainstays, a ball of dough is inherently hopeful because it could turn into so many wonderful, cherished things. It&#39;s no wonder that in the midst of a global health concern, we found space on our counters for jars of dough starters that perhaps reminded us that we could nurture and care for ourselves even as time seemed to stand still.</span></p><p><span>For today’s episode, we travel back in time to review how the mixture of a few simple ingredients influenced and was influenced by the cultures and dynasties of the people who relied upon the foods that dough created. Leigh shows how the concept of mixing flour made from wheat, rye, barley, and other cereals with water not only contributed towards the development of some of our greatest ancient civi