34 ms·

That's a sourdough bread, right? Now, there's a rabbit hole to dive into. It uses a different type of levain / yeast culture compared to bread based on dried ye

That's a sourdough bread, right? Now, there's a rabbit hole to dive into. It uses a different type of levain / yeast culture compared to bread based on dried yeast. Long story short, sourdough was / is how bread was made throughout history. Fermentation takes a very long time due to the nature of the levain. At some point, bakers noticed how the leftovers from brewers yeasts drastically shorten fermentation. That and industrialization led to modern day bread you find in the supermarket. Jon from Proof Bread on YT does a much better job at explaining. [1] Another great watch is Michael Pollan's "Cooked" series. In the 3rd episode, he explores bread, it's history and makes the case about modern industrialization affecting the quality and the nutritional value of modern bread. [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0p0p0zqVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0p0p0zqVE [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epMAq5WYJk4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epMAq5WYJk4

ascar 5y ago
> That's a sourdough bread, right? Yes, the one I linked is made out of sourdough, which is a sign of quality here. Though, we do also have the same style of bread without sourdough.
- mirker 5y ago
  There is “artisan” bread, made by hand, which is the round kind. Then there is “sandwich bread”, which is the rectangular kind. Ingredients: Artisan bread is usually just flour, water, salt, yeast (sourdough is just flour and water, too). Sandwich bread can include milk or other fats to make it softer and is more of a “cake”. In industrial settings, there are a lot of preservatives included in the sandwich bread. Mixing: Artisan bread is mixed by hand. Sandwich bread is mixed in a mixer. The former thus has less worked gluten. Shaping: Artisan bread is made into a ball (similar to “spinning” pizza dough). Sandwich bread is poured into a tin and requires no shaping. Bake: Artisan bread is baked at high heat, around 500F, in steam. Sandwich bread is baked in a specific tin at lower heat, like a cake. As you can see, the sandwich bread is easily scalable and, being essentially a cake, is preferred by many. A loaf of sandwich bread is around $1-$2 where an artisan bread is like 4x more. Also, there are flours, like rye, which have to be made with sandwich-type methods. These flours don’t have enough gluten to hold shape on their own.
  - treeman79 5y ago
    Started baking bread with kids recently. They love it. But next day the leftover bread is stale. I explained that it isn’t full of preservatives. After a moment, they look at me and ask where we can get some.
    - chubot 5y ago
      You definitely need to slice and freeze it! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31015602 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31015602 No preservatives necessary. You just need a freezer and a toaster.
      - monetus 5y ago
        Adds inconvenience though when a kid just wants a pb&j right this moment. But yes, freezing is the way.
    - mirker 5y ago
      If you make artisan bread with sourdough, it can easily last 3-4 days. Mine don’t grow mold until 7-9 days.
    - Tarq0n 5y ago
      It shouldn’t go stale in a day if you keep it somewhere somewhat airtight.
      - perlgeek 5y ago
        If you keep it airtight, the crust will dampen from the moisture that comes from the inside. Which storing bread that has a crust worth preserving, I tend to make sure it gets a little air (covering it with linen cloths, for example), and accept the small amount of drying out that comes with this form of storage.
    - pessimizer 5y ago
      There are tactics other than preservatives to make bread last, such as covering it, freezing it, and tangzhong: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/03/26/introduction-to-tangzhong https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/03/26/introductio... I tend to bake two loaves (always with tangzhong if the particular recipe can tolerate it), wrap both, immediately freeze one, and the other one lasts somewhere short of a week.
sva_ 5y ago
I think if you have an active starter, it can be pretty much as quick as bakers yeast. The slow fermentation is just to give it more flavor. I think the benefits of bakers yeast are reliability and predictability.
KSPAtlas 5y ago
I would happily eat sourdough over any other kind of bread.

ascar 5y ago

> That's a sourdough bread, right? Yes, the one I linked is made out of sourdough, which is a sign of quality here. Though, we do also have the same style of bread without sourdough.

mirker 5y ago
There is “artisan” bread, made by hand, which is the round kind. Then there is “sandwich bread”, which is the rectangular kind. Ingredients: Artisan bread is usually just flour, water, salt, yeast (sourdough is just flour and water, too). Sandwich bread can include milk or other fats to make it softer and is more of a “cake”. In industrial settings, there are a lot of preservatives included in the sandwich bread. Mixing: Artisan bread is mixed by hand. Sandwich bread is mixed in a mixer. The former thus has less worked gluten. Shaping: Artisan bread is made into a ball (similar to “spinning” pizza dough). Sandwich bread is poured into a tin and requires no shaping. Bake: Artisan bread is baked at high heat, around 500F, in steam. Sandwich bread is baked in a specific tin at lower heat, like a cake. As you can see, the sandwich bread is easily scalable and, being essentially a cake, is preferred by many. A loaf of sandwich bread is around $1-$2 where an artisan bread is like 4x more. Also, there are flours, like rye, which have to be made with sandwich-type methods. These flours don’t have enough gluten to hold shape on their own.
- treeman79 5y ago
  Started baking bread with kids recently. They love it. But next day the leftover bread is stale. I explained that it isn’t full of preservatives. After a moment, they look at me and ask where we can get some.
  - chubot 5y ago
    You definitely need to slice and freeze it! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31015602 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31015602 No preservatives necessary. You just need a freezer and a toaster.
    - monetus 5y ago
      Adds inconvenience though when a kid just wants a pb&j right this moment. But yes, freezing is the way.
  - mirker 5y ago
    If you make artisan bread with sourdough, it can easily last 3-4 days. Mine don’t grow mold until 7-9 days.
  - Tarq0n 5y ago
    It shouldn’t go stale in a day if you keep it somewhere somewhat airtight.
    - perlgeek 5y ago
      If you keep it airtight, the crust will dampen from the moisture that comes from the inside. Which storing bread that has a crust worth preserving, I tend to make sure it gets a little air (covering it with linen cloths, for example), and accept the small amount of drying out that comes with this form of storage.
  - pessimizer 5y ago
    There are tactics other than preservatives to make bread last, such as covering it, freezing it, and tangzhong: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/03/26/introduction-to-tangzhong https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2018/03/26/introductio... I tend to bake two loaves (always with tangzhong if the particular recipe can tolerate it), wrap both, immediately freeze one, and the other one lasts somewhere short of a week.

sva_ 5y ago

I think if you have an active starter, it can be pretty much as quick as bakers yeast. The slow fermentation is just to give it more flavor. I think the benefits of bakers yeast are reliability and predictability.

KSPAtlas 5y ago

I would happily eat sourdough over any other kind of bread.