What is the best term for breads leavened with wild yeast?

I must admit that I find the term "artisan bread" quite funny. In Europe all breads except the ones from the big chain-store-bakeries would be classed as "artisan bread" by what I have read so far.

I always thought (and took for granted) that bakers know how to make bread. Every bread, like sourdough baguettes, rye breads etc.

A baker for me is not someone who just mixes some kgs of a flour-and-additive-mix with some water, proof for 30 minutes and bake. Thats factory bread, but not what a Baecker, baker or boulangerie would sell.

How come that the "normal" breads are now "artisan"?
And people need special skills to bake them??

When did that happen?

[quote="carla"]
by what I have read so far.
[/quote]

don't believe everything you read, number of bakers that do REAL sourdough bread in europe is not looking any better than down under.

i spent most of my life in europe and bread is better(much better) in most places but to find pure sourdough bread is just as hard as it is down here.

[quote="Croc"]
i spent most of my life in europe and bread is better(much better) in most places but to find pure sourdough bread is just as hard as it is down here.
[/quote]

I guess that's because pure sourdough bread isn't something which can be churned out in less than no time clockwork precision. That's why commercial yeast was invented in the first place, at the cost of taste.

Over the past months, I've been introducing sourdough bread to friends and relatives. They do like or accept the taste, but the moment I mention the word 'sourdough', I can see some of them cringing.....er...sourwhat? It's like you're poisoning them with some scarily fermented muck. I guess I'll stick to hoity poity Natural Leavened Bread.

in poland for example bread was for long time sort of combination (hybrid?) and it was fantastic, you could also find fair bit of sourdough around lets say 10years ago and more but since poland joined EU everything changed.
EU rules and regulations affected things like flour production and some additives and change of way flour is proccessed were forced on to everything like it or not and since then going by what i been told by friends and family and by what i see on websites related to polish bread in one or other form bread quality went down and sourdough in days of "how to make more money" doesn't seem to be the best option.
but many bakers go way to far and dont notice customers that don't mind to pay extra to get old type of bread.
but i figure it's a period of time they all sink in to and different places see it at different times.
in australia few years ago sourdough in shops didn't exist, not that what we see in big shops like coles or safeway is real sourdough but it indicates that people are sick of plastic spunges shops were selling to us for so long and they look for good old fashioned bread.
good bakers try to provide it while coles/safeway/etc.. makes sourdough flavored options that taste like junk.

[quote="TeckPoh"]
Over the past months, I've been introducing sourdough bread to friends and relatives. They do like or accept the taste, but the moment I mention the word 'sourdough', I can see some of them cringing.....er...sourwhat? It's like you're poisoning them with some scarily fermented muck.
[/quote]

if you said sourdough few years ago to my wife she wouldn't know what it is and she would never try it but she got major migrane problems and specialist told her what to eat and what not to eat and out of all breads out there she only could eat sourdough and it wasn't just any but specific one so guy knew there are "fakes" in town and since then she is big fan of sourdough but before that she would call me crazy if i told her what and how it is made.

I preffer naturally leavened becase not all sourdough baking makes sour bread. I bake with natural leavens but my bread is very mildly sour (usually!!) - it's how I like it. Naturally leavened refers to a method of baking and less to its outcome, to me any way.

Um, I like "sourdough". Would this forum change to "naturally/wild leavened bread companion"?!?

And is it wild if it's been kept in a stable symbiosis in a fridge under carefully controlled conditions for many years and countless generations of the bugs? Whoops, don't let it run out of food, scrape off that invading mould on the dry crust, dont leave it unfed on the bench for days, drain off that hooch, weight out that hydration % to the decimal place, revive for at least 2 feeds before making up a levain, follow internet advice on how to keep it tame and get it optimally active, refrigerate the proving bread dough under certain timing in order to optimise acidity - but yeah it's "wild".

Seruously though, most people have a rough idea what sourdough is, surely (well, at least as much as would be the case as for any other term)???