How Eco brought ancient Egyptian sourdough to London

1st April is National Sourdough Bread Day, an annual event that celebrates the existence of an extraordinarily natural bread, made without commercial yeast, processing aids, or artificial additives.

To celebrate, we want to tell you the story of Eco’s iconic sourdough, which forms the bases of our delicious pizza.

Bringing Sourdough to Eco

Eco serves one of the most remarkable sourdoughs London has to offer, but its roots lie in Egypt, the ancient birthplace of the bread.

So how did it find its way to Clapham? Ask Sami Wasif, founder of Eco Restaurants.

Sami was born and raised in Beni Suef, Egypt, a farming town and agricultural trade centre located on the West Bank of the Nile River. He recalls, “There was a strong connection to the land in Beni Suef. Everyone had a great understanding of the harvest and fermentation processes that brought our dinner to the table”.

Pictured: Sami (Left) and Chef Shady Gurguis

Sami’s grandfather Gerges was well known by the local townspeople for producing and distributing the annual sourdough starter (or ‘mother dough’, as it was known) at the Spring Equinox. Over the course of seven days, Gerges would pray over the dough every day until it was ready to be distributed.

The story of his grandfather never quite left Sami’s mind. After graduating from university in Sudan, Sami traveled Europe and found himself hooked on authentic Italian pizza. But it wasn’t until his move to London in 1976 that he learned the craft of pizza-making himself, and took over his first business in the 1980s: the iconic Pizzeria Franco.

Left unimpressed by the pizza available in England at the time, Sami was determined to give Franco’s customers a taste of high quality authentic pizza, and he knew that incorporating his homeland’s bread as a base was the right way to go about this.

Unlike most pizza bases, which are filled with additives and processed ingredients that interfere with natural flavour, Egyptian sourdough presents a purity like no other bread. While his grandfather was a genius in the craft, the recipe Sami uses today has evolved from the one he witnessed in 20th Century Beni Suef.

Pictured: Sami with Grandson Orion

Although seemingly a simple combination of just flour, water and time, Sami spent thirty years perfecting a recipe that honours and respects the fermentation process as it takes place within changing environments and with different elements.

Indeed, rather than the specific recipe, it is the attitude towards the process that Sami and his grandfather will always share, one carried amongst his ancestors. Sami comments, “With sourdough, every day is different. The taste varies depending on how the environment wants to act that day,”

“The fermentation process is magical. It knows how the sourdough is naturally supposed to turn out, so I let it take the reins. It is a miracle of the elements, a gift from God.”

Want to get a taste of our sourdough? Book your table at Eco today!