Does anyone seriously enjoy sourdough?

[SunshineAndFizz]

I just find the crust so tough and chewy. I always feel so undignified ripping a bite off like a wild animal, usually while the filling drops everywhere.

Posh, artisan type places seem to all love a bit of sourdough, I just don't get it. What am I missing?!!

Mainly I started it as it has the fewest UPF ingredients of all the breads. I think but don't know it was quite an old fashioned thing that has had a resurgence.

Love sourdough. It keeps really well too so as someone who lives on their own and loves bread but tries to limit my intake this is useful!

I have flirted with making my own but it took too long. So I'm back to supporting the local artisanal bakery which opened during lockdown and has revolutionised my quality of life.

Fresh bread/ pastries on my WFH day really cheer me up!

No. It's got a sour taste!! And not in a good way.

It's bloody everywhere though.

Only like it toasted

The lining of my mouth hates sourdough, and I've got a sensitive molar (the dentist says there's nothing much wrong with it) that goes off on one if I bite down the wrong way, so it's not my favourite. When I was younger and gravitated towards everything crunchy and chewy I suspect I'd have been a proper sourdough snob.

Love it. I buy it fresh from the local bakery, slice it then freeze, wrapped in portions. It makes amazing toast. Our local bakery has won awards for its sourdough.

exDP made some and it was absolutely amazing. Never had shop-bought sourdough that I liked though .

My DH has made sourdough weekly since 2016, it’s the only bread we eat - so glad to be done with that gross UPF supermarket stuff!

Yes, definitely! But then I grew up in a culture of proper, chewy bread, not this soft, industrial fluff most people here eat and even cut the crusts off that!

It's all I buy. I love it lightly toasted and buttered with poached eggs on spinach and some chilli oil.

I like it and would love to make it at home. However the cost of a starter (as well as the other equipment needed) is very expensive, and with not being an experienced bread maker, I’m worried that it would be a waste of money.

To be honest, I don’t really understand how the starter works and some being 40 years old!

@Uselesssil all you need is a jar, spoon, big bowl, wooden spoon and a kitchen scale (mine is Ikea for 6 pounds). Then a loaf pan or baking sheet. The reddit sourdough forum has a good step by step.

I like it with soup, pate or soft cheese. Prefer malted brown for a sandwich and proper cheap ass white bread for toast!

The starter is just flour and water in a jar, you then just need a big bowl, a cloth, a baking tray and you're away!

Try BBC Good Food White Sourdough. Be It talks you through the whole process (I don't use sugar not sure if this one does).

Oh sorry a scale and a spoon and some sea salt too

Starter is easy and cheap to make at home. https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2019/03/beginner-sourdough-starter-recipe/

You need a container (I use takeaway containers), a bowl and a scale.

Once the starter is "started" you either need to regularly (every 48 hours) feed it with flour and tepid water OR let it rest in the fridge. My regularly rests in the fridge for periods of 3 months or more between feedings. It does separate out and a dark liquid firms on top, but unless it goes furry, it's fine to continue using. My starter is currently 8 years old and I was given it off someone so it's actually older than that.

Every time you make a loaf, you use some but not all of the starter. And you keep the starter alive by feeding it, which makes it grow.

I love it - it’s top tier for toast and toasted sandwiches. I love the crunchiness.

I don’t eat a lot of sandwiches un-toasted but get that it tastes a bit too chewy otherwise.

‘Normal’ supermarket bread tastes bland in comparison now.

Me too- I get through about half a loaf on the day I buy it and then slice and freeze the rest wrapped in foil- means I can justify the price tag and it’s still great from the freezer toasted.

I’m interested in what people who don’t like sourdough prefer- I do like granary, rye, a good baguette and soda bread. I can also tolerate a white cottage loaf although some are a bit claggy. But I can’t stand stuff like sliced white or 50/50 from a supermarket these days- sounds snobby but I think decent bread has spoiled me for other stuff.

@SunshineAndFizz were you listening to the Food Programme on radio 4 yesterday? It was all about bloody sourdough. It crossed my mind to start a thread on MN to say how much I don't like it. I don't like the flavour and it's a jaw breaker

This is where we are all different. I would actually struggle to swallow supermarket thick white. I could possibly handle sandwich slice white on a cucumber finger sandwich only because that’s how I was introduced to them.
Some of the Vogels type grainy supermarket breads are ok but not many places stock them now.

Ha no I didn't - total coincidence. My DH picked up a few things for lunch today and I'd asked him to get bread, and yep he picked up sourdough. Totally ruined my lunchtime sandwich.

What is interesting is that even in France I have noticed a lot of their bakeries have just as many sourdough baguettes now as the previous cotton wool variety so even the baguette munching French seem to have embraced the joys of sourdough.

I don't generally eat wheat bread just rye bread but don't mind rye sourdough which is a mixture of rye and wheatflour, I think

I buy a particular seeded sourdough from a small supplier and it's the best bread I've ever tasted. I don't eat sandwiches though. Always toasted. Love it with eggs and chilli oil. I don't eat any other bread now, even supermarket sourdough is very much second rate.

No it's the worst type of bread ever