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Original poster

To wonder what cafés are doing to their sourdough?!

34 replies

Cadogan66 · 02/01/2026 17:43

Why on earth do I need a chainsaw to cut through my avocado toast anytime I go to a trendy cafe? It’s at a point where I’m actively put off ordering any ‘on toast’ dishes as it’s always severely humbling trying to get a standard table knife through them. We eat & toast sourdough all the time at home - it’s never as rock hard as that!

Yes, I know this is a massive first world problem before anyone gets their knickers in a twist..

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MidnightPatrol · 02/01/2026 23:11

catpigeon · 02/01/2026 20:50

Sandwiches should not be comprised of sourdough

Agreed - too often a sandwich is served between rock hard shards of bread

ApplesinmyPocket · 02/01/2026 22:38

Vaguelyclassical · 02/01/2026 19:27

Can't we just drop soudough from the universe? Am I the only person still alive who really prefers her basic bread to be neither sour nor sweet? :Hooray for the good old-fashioned freshly baked British cob loaf! Or a superb baguette.

Mystifying isn't it. A lovely crusty baguette with butter, or bread that tastes .. sour?

It's massively popular, so I know I'm in the minority and all that.

HarbourClankCat · 02/01/2026 20:56

Sourdough dishes (eggs Benedict etc) always need to be served with a steak knife and it annoys me very often that this occurs to me but absolutely no one in the actual restaurant trade.

catpigeon · 02/01/2026 20:50

Sandwiches should not be comprised of sourdough

HarryVanderspeigle · 02/01/2026 20:50

I don't understand why bakeries want to cook it until it is burnt, then sell it as traditional. I love the taste of sourdough, but not the tooth breaking crust of over bakedness.

TonTonMacoute · 02/01/2026 20:38

Sourdough is just bread made with a starter as a leavening agent instead of yeast. There's no 'should' about any aspect of it.

I make one yeasted loaf and one sourdough (from my own starter) a week, neither of them are hard, crispy, tough or anything else. Just yummy

Wheech · 02/01/2026 20:32

Yes agreed you really need a decent steak knife. It's delicious though. We have a wonderful local baker who does sourdough and their loaves are the same but when I make avocado on toast at home I cut the slices in half so I can pick them up and bite like normal toast.

Original poster
Cadogan66 · 02/01/2026 20:26

MeinKraft · 02/01/2026 20:18

Stay at home next time and have a couple of slices of thick sliced Hovis with loads of butter and a cup of tea.

There’s a happy medium I think. Regular supermarket loaf bread is absolute mush!

OP posts:
MeinKraft · 02/01/2026 20:18

Stay at home next time and have a couple of slices of thick sliced Hovis with loads of butter and a cup of tea.

RubySparrow · 02/01/2026 20:14

Vaguelyclassical · 02/01/2026 19:27

Can't we just drop soudough from the universe? Am I the only person still alive who really prefers her basic bread to be neither sour nor sweet? :Hooray for the good old-fashioned freshly baked British cob loaf! Or a superb baguette.

Agree, but can I give a shoutout to Japanese milk bread from my local bakery.
Called Shokupan.

User7854653 · 02/01/2026 20:09

They're most likely storing the bread in the fridge which is a death sentence for sourdough. It causes it to turn stale extremely quickly. Staff may be forced to do that for food safety reasons if they have too much unused bread by the end of the day. They're probably taking cold, stale sourdough from the fridge and whacking it under the grill so the crust is toasted but rock hard.

Sourdough only has a perfectly edible window of 12-24 hours. The only way to preserve for longer is to slice it as soon as the crumb has cooled and freeze. Or freezing entire loaves and reheating. Once the bread is at room temp, or even worse in the fridge, it starts to dry up and no amount of work can save it. Assuming smaller cafes aren't baking their bread on the premises, the loaves are probably 6-10 hours old by the time they arrive. The first set of customers will get reasonably fresh bread but the same loaf will be awful by evening.

And the absolute worst will be a loaf that's been sitting out all day being stuck into a chiller or fridge for the next morning.

miamo12 · 02/01/2026 19:36

Real sourdough has a pretty hard crust, the supermarket offerings have extra ingredients

Kingsleadhat · 02/01/2026 19:34

Vaguelyclassical · 02/01/2026 19:27

Can't we just drop soudough from the universe? Am I the only person still alive who really prefers her basic bread to be neither sour nor sweet? :Hooray for the good old-fashioned freshly baked British cob loaf! Or a superb baguette.

I'll second that^^

EchoedSilence · 02/01/2026 19:30

Vaguelyclassical · 02/01/2026 19:27

Can't we just drop soudough from the universe? Am I the only person still alive who really prefers her basic bread to be neither sour nor sweet? :Hooray for the good old-fashioned freshly baked British cob loaf! Or a superb baguette.

Nope. Not the only one. I've never eaten any sourdouth, toasted or otherwise that I like.

Hankunamatata · 02/01/2026 19:28

Needs to be warm woth oodles of butter.

purplecorkheart · 02/01/2026 19:27

It does not help when it is served on a small narrow plate so thus increases the likelihood of it going flying.

Vaguelyclassical · 02/01/2026 19:27

Can't we just drop soudough from the universe? Am I the only person still alive who really prefers her basic bread to be neither sour nor sweet? :Hooray for the good old-fashioned freshly baked British cob loaf! Or a superb baguette.

DrJump · 02/01/2026 19:23

Yep I do t order sour dough out because it's just dry and hard to eat. Our local cafe does this amazing Tuscan bread which toasts to be crispy while still fluffy on the inside. It's brilliant.
At home I'll toast sourdough lightly so it still has chew.

echt · 02/01/2026 19:19

Same here in my bit of Melbourne. Many cafes have rock-hard sourdough to the point where I avoid it. I toast sourdough at home and while it has a distinctly crisp outside, it's giving and properly chewy inside.

Starship74 · 02/01/2026 19:10

I got quite a few loaves from Planet Organic over Christmas via Olio. I’m sure it’s not as ‘sour’ as it used to be, this didn’t have the kick I was expecting vs normal bread.

MatchaTea1 · 02/01/2026 18:49

ThatCalmFinch · 02/01/2026 18:34

Had the same experience at Gails :-(

Same, but when I toast Gail' sourdough at home it doesn't go rock hard, so I wonder how cafes make their sourdough toast inedible!

Hillarious · 02/01/2026 18:38

EchoedSilence · 02/01/2026 18:04

I had eggs benedict on sourdough toast at a fancy brunch cafe and had to leave the toast because I couldn't hardly chew it!

Sourdough makes crap toast. Give me normal thick white bread toast any time.

Sourdough actually makes excellent toast. The starter I’d been given and nurtured died on me, so I made my own following one of Paul Hollywood’s recipes with a cooking apple from someone’s garden, flour and water. Really straightforward. Just needs patience and then you’re good to go for cheap, tasty bread - and great toast.

If the toast is too hard, the bread is possibly not so fresh.

ThatCalmFinch · 02/01/2026 18:34

Had the same experience at Gails :-(

Simonjt · 02/01/2026 18:34

Sourdough should be almost crisp, so when cutting up it should almost ‘shatter’ yet not be dry, if its tough its poor quality.

Original poster
Cadogan66 · 02/01/2026 18:30

Theyreeatingthedogs · 02/01/2026 18:28

Jason's is sourfaux. It contains the preservative propionic acid (fermented wheat flour). I have no idea about the other branded products.

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Ah dear, I’m sure we’ll survive! Rarely buy it anyway as it’s almost never in stock here in NI

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