[Sca-cooks] Is Sourdough Halal

[Katherine Throckmorton]

Terry wrote: 

To clarify, I was responding to the assertation that the fact that the alcohol cooks out renders the food halal.  This isn't nessesarily the case, so to determine wether or not sourdough bread is halal we must look at other factors.
> 
> The problem with your interpretation is baker's yeast is generally 
> halal and alcohol is a byproduct of yeast.  Leavened bread made 
> with the yeast is halal, but using the yeast to produce an 
> alcoholic beverage is haram, so I would say that it is the intent 
> to produce an intoxicating beverage and the beverage itself that 
> are haram and not the simple fact that a small amount of alcohol is 
> produced naturally by the yeast.

I would tend to agree with your interpratation.  However, on the other side we have a hadith in which Muhammad disposed of the remains of a beverage made by soaking raisins in water after the third day.  The reason being that after that point it would ferment, becoming alcoholic and, thus, haram.
In addition, there seems to be general agreement among modern 'ulema that vanilla extract, if prepared using alcohol, is haram.  As is (somewhat surprisingly) making wine with the full intention of turning said wine into vinegar.

So the question would appear to be two-fold.  The first part is wether the intention of the baker in cultivating the sourdough is to produce bread or alcohol.  The second is wether or not the amount of alcohol present in the starter is sufficient to produce intoxication.  The answer to the first question is that the baker intends to produce bread.  I suspect, although I cannot be sure, having never worked with sourdough, that the answer to the second question is that the amount of alchohol produced is negligable.
Therefore, it seems logical to presume that sourdough bread would, in fact, be halal.
  
-Katie (who finds fiq fun, but feels obligated to point out that the above is a scholarly opinion and should not be confused with a fatwa)

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