to wish sourdough would go away?

[Turtleyturtles]

Sourdough is still everwhere in cafes and restauants. Why? It's either tough or crunchy in a bad way. It's often riddled with holes. Butter doesn't work well on it, what with all the craters. It's not a nice base for things on toast, it's even worse untoasted. Nasty scratchy bread. Why can't we have normal, fresh bread/toast back on the menu? Cafes advertise it on the menu like it's a good thing. Smashed avo on sourdough. GET IT OFF THE SOURDOUGH and put it on decent toast. Even a slice of Warburtons would better. I found a dank, soggy, tasteless piece sinking into my soup in a restaurant last night. Weird. Rant over.

OMG I hate brioche, it’s so sweet.

You'd have to rip toasted sourdough out of my dead fingers, love it!

I love that one - the one with seeds all the way though, not just as a coating on the outside? Leave me alone with a loaf of that and some salted butter and there will only be one result.

This is slightly disingenuous in that part of the point of sourdough is precisely the longer fermentation process which gives it a distinct sour flavour and chewier texture.

If you make a quick-rise non-sour sourdough then it’s not really sour. Which is not to say that wouldn’t be an improvement. But I’d rather have ordinary bread.

That's the one! 😋

What about a shepherd’s pie then? Indubitably a pie but not even a scrap of pastry.

Or a fish pie - pastry would be no good.

There’s no saving chorleywood bread but the ways of the pie are many!

Chorleywood bread has its place though, prawn toast for example, melba toast, croque monsieur, fish finger sandwich, all preferable to me on shop bought bread. I cant really eat bread anymore unless its my own because of the way I make it but my homemade bread cant really do those dishes.

Loath sourdough - just no flavour at all.
But a lovely piece of Irish wheaten loaf, or Irish soda bread with butter ….. heaven !

I'm sorry to prolong the pie/not a pie question, but I was always taught that a pie had only a top crust, whether fruit or meat.

Now a tart has 2 crusts, or sometimes just a bottom crust.

Just what I was told many years ago by a cookery teacher - I don't know where you'd get a final ruling on this, though!

I share the grunting, though, about so-called pies which are in fact stew in a bowl with a puff-pastry hat on top. Those aren't pies...and I'm not sure what they are.

Ooh, I love a bit of pumpernickel with cream cheese and gherkins!

I agree. But I think sourdough really has almost taken over in some contexts. I've been in some places, after a simple white crusty loaf, and they've only had variations on sourdough.

I don't mind the odd bit of sourdough (best as very thin toast with pate or cheese) but what happened to all the other lovely special breads?

This is what I want to know! And STILL some pps on here are suggesting that if you object to sourdough you must be on the Mother's Pride, however many times it's refuted.

There are lots of lovely breads - move over, sourdough.

I detest soda bread!! So stodgy and 0 taste. If you need to drown it in butter to be edible then it really isn’t that nice in my opinion

We have tried practically every sourdough bread, we can find in supermarkets, including the Jason’s range over a period of 18 months.

I had to conclude, I just don’t like the sour tang, regardless of how good it is for us!

Ooh, controversial!

A tart has a bottom but not a top. The minute the top goes on it’s a pie.

Shepherd’s pie and fish pie are just cheating.

The main argument for a sourdough starter is that you have fresh yeast right there when you want it, which can be hard to come by otherwise. All through history the point has been convenience, with the sourness being a byproduct that some people enjoy.

The chewy texture is not caused by fermentation or the yeast. It is caused by the long proving, which allows the gluten to develop more than a bread that’s turned around quickly, and having a wetter dough, which is responsible for creating the texture in something like ciabatta. The chewy texture can be developed with regular baker’s yeast and a long proving.

I wish the choices to have an open crumb and chewy bread weren’t permanently associated with sourdough because it clearly puts a lot of people off who’d otherwise get to enjoy some nice bread!

Thanks for that info as was definitely too sour when I made it so I'll have another go now with a shorter rise👌

Any true Sheffielder will tell you that a meat and potato pie has just a top crust of shortcrust pastry. Has to be served with Henderson’s Relish, which in some parts of the country is harder to find than fresh yeast.

It makes everything taste off.

I adore sourdough bread and used to really enjoy it until I went GF.

But, contrary to its reputation, it’s not really that healthy or much better than typical bread.

Yet, it is absolutely delicious in my opinion.

Henderson’s Relish, “Strong & Northern” 🤤

Indeed!

I think because it's all bought in by the likes of Brakes Brothers frozen. A lot of it tastes stale and that is why folks are complaining.
True sourdough does not taste like the aldurated crap we are offered today.

Incidentally - if you freeze starches (inc sourdough) the blood sugar spike is much reduced, by about half, I think. I know this doesn't help if you want a nice, warm crusty loaf, but it's quite useful to know.

I like sourdough (not so much the massive holes if you buy an artisan loaf), but brioche can get in the bin.
I like a nice burger if I am eating out, and most places seem to only offer brioche for the roll now.