I wanted to make a loaf with nice dark and red color contrast and I think it came out very interesting. Here is a picture of the full loaf:
this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2026
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Sourdough baking
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~~Yeah, I'd recommend that over putting carcinogenic dust in your food.~~
After doing further research, today I learned that it's specifically cooking meat over a charcoal fire that creates carcinogenic compounds, and not charcoal itself. Ignore me!
There's also not evidence that cooking meat over a fire affects cancer risk. It does create compounds that have been shown to increase risk in mice fed 1000x what you or I would eat.
You could do the same thing for practically any compound. Fruit juice will naturally contain a small percentage of ethyl alcohol, a known carcinogen, and we know from many studies that over consumption of ethyl alcohol greatly increases the risk of many cancers.
Activated charcoal is not carcinogenic tho
But it does potentially mess with medications. I generally avoid cooking with it, especially when cooking for others.
I used a perfectly edible food grade charcoal. Something like this https://www.herbstore.gr/en/p/energos-anthrakas-food-grade-skoni. I got mine from a local spice seller