So I've been baking bread on and off for years, and a few months ago started successfully making sourdough. I currently have two wild-yeast starters in my fridge and have made quite a few very good loaves using absolutely no commercial yeast - very cool!
However, I'm not getting a big flavor "kick" I'm looking for. One example, for those of you who know this chain, is the sourdough at the Old Spaghetti Factory (mostly a western US chain, I believe). If you know their bread, do you have any idea how they get their intense flavor? I'm not sure it's just intense SOUR, but a really strong flavor that really say "sourdough", at least to me.
Thanks in advance,
John
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Hello twobottles,
I'm obviously not familiar with this particular bread, but commercial bread factories often use flavour enhancers to make what they call 'sourdough'.
Graham has a bit somewhere on this site about 'fake' sourdough.
http://sourdough.com/forum/fake-sourdough
Good luck with your projects
Farinam
I make my own yogurt and I use the whey leftover from the yogurt making process as the liquid in sour doughs that I want to have a more sour flavor.
You won't get the flavor unless you use a starter from San Francisco. The sour flavors come from lactic and acetic acids produced by environmental bacteria found in SF, which are working on the flour's sugars along with the yeast.
That is a total myth! Sourdough predates San Francisco by thousands of years. My east coast sourdough is every bit as good as San Francisco.
I totally disagree. I've purchased sourdough bread all over the US and NO ONE comes close to Boudin Sourdough Bread.