Sourdough by the sea, how bread works in the tropics

Sourdough is bread raised without bought yeast: a living starter of flour and water, full of wild yeast and bacteria, lifts the dough slowly and gives it its gentle sourness. In heat and sea air the same dough moves much faster, so a baker in the tropics works with less starter, cold water and a fridge. Our sourdough is made in our own kitchen, and it carries most of the breakfast menu.

How does sourdough work?

It begins with the starter. Flour and water are mixed into a paste and left. Wild yeasts and bacteria, which live on the flour and in the air of any kitchen, wake up and begin to feed. The baker feeds the paste with fresh flour and water every day, and after a week or two it is a stable, bubbling culture that can be kept alive for years.

Two kinds of life share the work.

• The wild yeast makes gas. The bubbles are caught in the dough, and the bread rises.
• The bacteria make acids, the same family of acids that sours yoghurt. They give the bread its taste.

The dough itself is only four things: flour, water, salt and a spoon of starter. What makes it sourdough is time. Bought yeast lifts a loaf in an hour or two. A starter takes many hours, and in those hours the taste, the chewy crumb and the dark crust are built.

Why do heat and humidity change it?

Because the starter is alive, and living things speed up when they are warm.

• Heat makes it fast. A dough that takes six to eight hours in a cool kitchen can be ready in three or four in a hot one. Left too long, it goes slack and sticky, spreads flat in the oven and tastes too sour.
• Humidity makes it wet. Flour takes up water from damp air before it ever meets the bowl. The same recipe gives a stickier dough on a humid day.

So a baker by a tropical sea changes the method, not the bread:

• Less starter in the dough, so that it has further to go.
• Cold water, even iced water, to begin cool.
• A little less water than the recipe says.
• The coolest corner of the kitchen, and the fridge to slow things down whenever the dough runs ahead.
• Eyes on the dough, not on the clock.

Damp air has one more trick. A crust that crackles when the air is dry goes soft when it is humid. A hot griddle brings it back.

What do we know about our own bread?

One thing for certain: it is made here, in our kitchen, and not bought in.

What we can tell you is where the bread goes.

Which toasts are on the menu?

The breakfast menu has a section called On Toast. All four are built on griddled or toasted sourdough.

• Avo Toast, 2,900 LKR. Poached eggs, yolks still soft, over sliced avocado and wilted spinach, with chilli flakes and lemon zest. The vegan way, griddled with olive oil and without the eggs, is 2,400 LKR.
• Egg Salad Toast, 2,700 LKR. Chopped egg bound with our own mayonnaise, creamy and tangy, with spring onion and herbs.
• Tuna Toast, 3,800 LKR. Our tuna, marinated raw with capers, onion and parsley and folded into a potato mash, with avocado and a poached egg.
• Zucchini Toast, 2,750 LKR. Zucchini blended bright green with coriander and garlic, spread cool with our labneh and a crunch of cashews. The vegan way, without labneh, is 2,450 LKR.

The bread also appears almost wherever there is something to mop up.

At breakfast:

• Sri Lankan Omelette, 2,400 LKR, and Fitness Omelette, 2,800 LKR. Both come with toast.
• Tomato, Labneh, Soft Eggs, 2,950 LKR. Sourdough for scooping.
• Vegan Yemeni Shakshuka, 3,000 LKR. Toasted sourdough for mopping. The classic shakshuka, 3,250 LKR, comes with Arabic bread.
• Kids Toast and Eggs, 1,500 LKR. Firm boiled eggs with toast cut into little triangles for small hands.

At lunch and dinner:

• Tuna Tartare, 3,400 LKR. Hand-cut tuna on avocado, with toasted sourdough.
• Gazpacho, 1,800 LKR. The croutons on top are our sourdough.
• Ohana Zuppa di Pesce, 6,900 LKR. Garlic toast on the side, for the broth.
• Toasted Sourdough Bread, 700 LKR. Warm slices for the last of a sauce, a soup or a salsa. With olive oil, it is the vegan way at the same price.
• Garlic bread, 950 LKR. Two slices with fresh garlic and parsley, toasted golden, as an extra beside a starter or a main course.

And the Roasted Eggplant with Mushroom Bolognese, 3,400 LKR, comes under pangrattato, the crunchy garlic breadcrumbs of southern Italy.

Is sourdough gluten-free?

No. Sourdough is wheat bread, and every dish with our bread lists gluten on the menu. The flour is handled in the same kitchen as everything else, so if you must avoid gluten strictly, tell us before you order. Every dish on the full menu lists its allergens.

When should you come for it?

In the morning. The toasts belong to breakfast, and breakfast here is slow: a table by the water, a flat white, 1,100 LKR, and a plate that took a starter, patience and a hot griddle to make. The whole morning is described in brunch near Hiriketiya.

If you eat plants only, the toasts are a good place to start, and the rest of the vegan ways are in tempeh and plant protein. For something sweet after the bread, read what is kithul treacle.

Bread is not what Sri Lanka grows. It is what a kitchen makes with patience, and that is the other half of what the island grows and how we cook it.

Good to know

• Breakfast is served from 08:00 to 11:00, every day. Lunch and dinner are served from 11:00 to 21:00.
• Prices are in LKR, plus a 10% service charge. Filtered water is on the house.
• Sourdough bread is made in our kitchen. It contains gluten.
• We are at Turtle Beach, Dikwella, less than five minutes by road from Hiriketiya.