To wonder what cafés are doing to their sourdough?!

[Cadogan66]

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..

Agree! I've had sourdough fly off my plate as I try to fight my way into a piece before now.

I've bought some sourdough mix from aldi to make myself to test the theory because I've never enjoyed a piece of sourdough toast.

The crispier the better in my opinion.

I’ve grown to like it (after being a self confessed hater) and would never buy normal bread nowadays. Just not a fan when it’s hard as rocks 🤣

Sourdough can have more tough structure than yeast based bread.

Do you make your own sourdough or do you buy it(and if so what’s in it as there’s a lot fake sourdough)?

Genuine plain sourdough has only 2 ingredients-flour and salt.

There’s a few factors to consider- type of flour used and hydration are the main ones(process and proofing time also play a role)

Sourdough doesn’t keep fresh for long(as any other bread) and can be refreshed by toasting.

I feel like this will become a title on the Mumsnet Tattle threads

I have very fragile teeth and a sourdough crust is enough to shatter them, so I have to cut the crusts off. As a result I rarely order sourdough any more even though I love it.

We buy ‘proper’ bakery sourdough when we can, otherwise it’s M&S Collection. Jason’s classic, or Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference. None of the softer ‘fake’ ones.

There’s tough and then there’s barely edible!

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.

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

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

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

Had the same experience at Gails :-(

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Needs to be warm woth oodles of butter.

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

I'll second that^^

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

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.

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