Sourdough - Oh No It Isn’T

[bainbrig]

Apparently, as there are no rules governing the name ‘Sourdough’, supermarkets can label any bread ‘sourdough’ however it’s made.

Thus, ordinary yeast-started bread can be called sourdough - they just flavour it with lemony-type flavourings.

Should there be such regulations?

BB

[ummmm]

If that's true then, yes, it should be regulated. It's misleading.

[bainbrig]

You CAN buy real sourdough from small bakeries, particularly in London, but its price reflects the much longer time needed to produce it.

[ummmm]

I know you can.

[pastafreak]

Do you have an article or link about this?

[Mamyalynne]

This is the best I can find just now, seems calls for regulation have been made.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5050781/SOUR-D-OH-Fake-sourdough-bread-sale-UK-stores.html

[Kidas]

There's this:

https://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/bread_labelling/

Seems to confirms that there is no legal definition of 'artisan', 'fresh' or 'sourdough' in the context of selling bread.

[diddlydo]

Calling it "sourdough" just seems to be an excuse for inflating the price beyond what I'm prepared to pay for a loaf of bread.

[pastafreak]

Sourdough is amongst the earliest types of bread, while yeast bread is quite recent...150 years or so.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sourdough

[bainbrig]

Yes, as a keen eater I've made sourdough - long and involved process, but the result (once I'd got it right) was excellent, at which point I got to wondering why it tasted so different from the Morrisons' version, or the Asda one. And the simple answer was because it wasn't sourdough, of course!

[Jackdaw33]

Interesting bit of trivia:
Bread was not rationed during the war but was in the post-war years. Bakers were not allowed to sell 'fresh' bread, i.e. baked the same day. This was to encourage people to eat less bread. I remember as a small boy seeing posters to that effect.

[Jackdaw33]

Can't speak for Asda but Morrison's bread is vile, as are most of their bakery products. The only thing I buy from them are their cheese scones.

[douglas9401]

Crumbs!

[Tilly2]

Crusty!

[Old_Geezer]

What a con !
Half expected it to be a 1st of April article.

[gingejbee]

Well, my Waitrose 1 Sourdough Bread contains only flour (wheat and rye) water and salt and is "handcrafted with a 10 year matured levain starter dough"...

[bainbrig]

Thanks ginge, that sounds like sourdough! I’ll try it.

[Spicerack]

Thought it was going to be about this.
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a49894/yeast-infection-sourdough-bread/
Don't read it if you've just had or are about to have something to eat.

[Mamyalynne]

Goodness knows what she'll have on the menu if she gets an abscess somewhere.

[Old_Geezer]

"more to do with a general mistrust and horror at vag."
Yeah and had she spat in the recipe that'd just have been horror at mouth, or had made cheese from bacteria found in her tights that'd have been horror at foot. Some folk are just dozy.

[woofgang]

Sourdough bread absolutely does have yeast in it. The difference is that the yeast is cultivated and kept growing and the by products of that growth give it the sour flavour. The bread making process is slower so the flour gets broken down before its baked.