Sourdough

[Shane]

The preparación of sourdough bread in the fermentation process is different than masa madre. Sourdough tastes sour. It nothing like saying US pizza is not real pizza compared to Italy. I prefer a great slice of NYC style or a Chicago pie to pizza here, but it's simply differently prepared. Just like sourdough and masa madre are not prepared the same nor do they taste the same. As I said in my previous post, I will try to make my own sourdough starter. I was just wondering if anyone came across "sourdough bread", not masa madre. Like asking if someone found a Chicago style pie here vs an Italian pizza.

 

[carride]

The preparación of sourdough bread in the fermentation process is different than masa madre. Sourdough tastes sour. It nothing like saying US pizza is not real pizza compared to Italy. I prefer a great slice of NYC style or a Chicago pie to pizza here, but it's simply differently prepared. Just like sourdough and masa madre are not prepared the same nor do they taste the same. As I said in my previous post, I will try to make my own sourdough starter. I was just wondering if anyone came across "sourdough bread", not masa madre. Like asking if someone found a Chicago style pie here vs an Italian pizza.

Sourdough taste different everywhere, and is not always as sour as the California style sourdough started with a Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis starter. So it is possible you are asking about that regions unique sourness in their sourdough bread. Even when not perceived as sour, everywhere in the English speaking places they still call it sourdough as long as it began from a starter of only water and flour (rye or wheat typically). The starter will have eventually grown to include the natural bacteria of its geographical location, or other microbes transported from somewhere else via a spoonful of someone else’s starter.

One technique which makes it extra sour is to stretch the fermentation process of the final dough to be longer than one day, to 2-3 or more days. So that could be the difference of the Masa Madres breads you have tasted catering to the local tastes. Still they are real sourdough.

If you begin your own sourdough starter you will be following the exact same directions as everyone making MasaMadre in Argentina. The preparation is basically the same, but the small variances still make the flavor and texture different. Perhaps you will even smuggle in some starter from California, but the water and the flours and even the salt here will be different. It is worth mentioning that it is not possible to buy salt here that was not fortified with Iodine, which is something many bakers and cooks say makes everything taste different.

What Makes San Francisco Sourdough Unique? | KQED

When it comes to the mecca of sourdough, separating scientific fact from lore means breaking a few taboos.

www.kqed.org

 

[Shane]

Sourdough taste different everywhere, and is not always as sour as the California style sourdough started with a Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis starter. So it is possible you are asking about that regions unique sourness in their sourdough bread. Even when not perceived as sour, everywhere in the English speaking places they still call it sourdough as long as it began from a starter of only water and flour (rye or wheat typically). The starter will have eventually grown to include the natural bacteria of its geographical location, or other microbes transported from somewhere else via a spoonful of someone else’s starter.

One technique which makes it extra sour is to stretch the fermentation process of the final dough to be longer than one day, to 2-3 or more days. So that could be the difference of the Masa Madres breads you have tasted catering to the local tastes. Still they are real sourdough.

If you begin your own sourdough starter you will be following the exact same directions as everyone making MasaMadre in Argentina. The preparation is basically the same, but the small variances still make the flavor and texture different. Perhaps you will even smuggle in some starter from California, but the water and the flours and even the salt here will be different. It is worth mentioning that it is not possible to buy salt here that was not fortified with Iodine, which is something many bakers and cooks say makes everything taste different.

What Makes San Francisco Sourdough Unique? | KQED

When it comes to the mecca of sourdough, separating scientific fact from lore means breaking a few taboos.

www.kqed.org

 

[Shane]

I've never heard of beginning a sourdough starter that's 1 day or 2-3 days. It takes at least a week of fermentation. No salt is used. I make Dutch oven bread regularly but prefer real sourdough bread from a long fermentation process.

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Masa madre is the Spanish word for Sourdough…..

However a lot of places will say pan “con masa madre” rather than pan de masa madre.

Nómada on Jorge Newberry in Cañitas does Pan de masa madre.

 

[Shane]

Masa madre is the Spanish word for Sourdough…..

However a lot of places will say pan “con masa madre” rather than pan de masa madre.

Nómada on Jorge Newberry in Cañitas does Pan de masa madre.

Yes, that's the literal translation. Not the same.

 

[carride]

I've never heard of beginning a sourdough starter that's 1 day or 2-3 days. It takes at least a week of fermentation. No salt is used. I make Dutch oven bread regularly but prefer real sourdough bread from a long fermentation process.

I was not talking about the sourdough starter. The starter is as you described, if starting from scratch a process of at least a week. Only flour and water, no salt. But after that, the starter is alive to be used and refreshed with only 12 hours or so before your bread recipe. Then just keep doing that for the rest of your life always using a small portion of the previous starter.

The extra sourness I was mentioning, can be introduced by a very long fermentation of the final dough. The dough which you began from your starter. Sourdough bread is always at least 1) sourdough starter, 2) water, 3) flour, 4) salt.

 

[Shane]

I was not talking about the sourdough starter. The starter is as you described, if starting from scratch a process of at least a week. Only flour and water, no salt. But after that, the starter is alive to be used and refreshed with only 12 hours or so before your bread recipe. Then just keep doing that for the rest of your life always using a small portion of the previous starter.

The extra sourness I was mentioning, can be introduced by a very long fermentation of the final dough. The dough which you began from your starter. Sourdough bread is always at least 1) sourdough starter, 2) water, 3) flour, 4) salt.

Cool. I understand that process. I've had bread here many times called masa madre and it doesn't taste like the sourdough I've always been used to. Yes, it's similar, but it doesn't have the acidic/ sour taste I'm looking for.

 

[Shane]

Cool. I understand that process. I've had bread here many times called masa madre and it doesn't taste like the sourdough I've always been used to. Yes, it's similar, but it doesn't have the acidic/ sour taste I'm looking for.

*I use Himalayan salt to bake bread, so you can use salt here without fortified iodine. Happy to share any insights. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Maybe the natural yeasts here aren’t the same as the ones you’re used to which give the bread a different flavour profile.