SF-June-20

IS IT MORE DIGESTIBLE BECAUSE IT DOESN’T CONTAIN ADDITIVES LIKE FLOUR IMPROVERS TOWHICH SOME PEOPLE ARE SENSITIVE? Yes, and long slow fermentation has benefits. It breaks down the phytic acid in bran which can cause wind. It makes vitamins and minerals such as calciummore accessible. There’s some evidence it is digested more slowly, causing less of a spike in blood sugar levels. WHAT’S CONTROVERSIAL ABOUT SOURDOUGH? It sells for a premium so everyone’s making it. You find three types: breads that contain dried sourdough powder or chemical flavouring; semi- fermented loaves where the level of fermentation has been fixed in a factory and the real deal with long, slow, 100% live fermentation. CAN A LAYMAN IDENTIFY THE REAL MCCOY? Not easily. Bakers can mimic sourdough’s characteristics such as big holes and crackling crust, and use vinegar, yoghurt or baker’s yeast to speed the process. DOES IT MATTER? It may if you suffer from IBS and have paid £5-£6 for something you thought you could eat. Members of the Real Bread Campaign believe sourfaux hoodwinks the public and are lobbying for a legal definition of sourdough for packaging. Other trade bodies – including some bakers and restaurateurs – want to be allowed 12 TREND WATCH Sponsored by Pioneers of the pantry since 1970 After lockdown, we suspect home bakers will make bread a little less often. They’ll respect bakers more and appreciate quality specialityfoodmagazine.com P R account executive, Dan, 31, is a typical quarantine bread maker. He’s on a WhatsApp group with three male friends, sharing photos of his sourdough bakes and says: “It’s turned into a competition. I always bought sourdough before lockdown and I thought: ‘How hard can it be?’” Food consultant Ruth Watson puts the sourdough obsession down to more than just a lockdown yeast shortage. “At a time when the human race has lost any semblance of control over its environment, the act of making bread is a primitive form of assertion that, come what may, we can still feed ourselves. And sourdough is the lodestone of all breads.” BUT SOURDOUGH WAS DOING WELL BEFORE LOCKDOWN, WASN’T IT? Correct. Searches for sourdough on Waitrose.comwere up 65% in January, year on year, sales over 30% higher than in 2017. AM I RIGHT THAT THE GENUINE ARTICLE CONTAINS JUST FLOUR, WATER AND SALT I.E. NO BAKER’S YEAST? Yes, to make the loaf rise, the baker creates a ‘starter’ – also called a levain or mother – of flour (preferably stoneground) and water (preferably chlorine-free). Each day, they discard a little and feed with more flour and water. It takes about six days – some say two weeks – for the wild yeasts present in flour and in the atmosphere to ferment and bubble up. WHAT’S CALIFORNIAN OR SAN FRANCISCO SOURDOUGH? There’s no legal definition. Vanessa Kimbell, owner of The Sourdough School suggests the acidic tang associated with Californian comes from retarding dough in the fridge for 20 hours minimum. Sourdough baker, Elaine Boddy adds: “You can enhance sourness by using whole grain, ancient wheats like Khorasan, or rye in the starter or dough and allowing your starter to get hungry a few times.” WHY DO PEOPLE RAVE ABOUT SOURDOUGH? Because it tastes better. One writer rhapsodised about “the slightly acidic, fermented tang; the crunchy crust that yields a treacly nuttiness as you chew it; the heft that sates the appetite…” It also keeps better and is more nutritious and digestible than your average crusty white. up to 0.2% of bakers’ yeast and certain flour treatment agents. It would help, says Vanessa Kimbell, if there was agreement on how long is meant by ‘long fermentation’. NEVER MIND DEFINITIONS. A CUSTOMER RETURNED A LOAF SO HOLEY SHE COULDN’T BUTTER IT! Large holes are known as ‘tunnels’. Talk to your supplier about adjusting the process. WHOSE SOURDOUGH DO YOU LIKE? We are massive fans of the Bread Bread Bakery in southeast London. Co-founder Bridget Hugo introduced the 24 hour-fermented, sourdough pizza served at Franco Manca restaurant, opened in 2008. Her loaves are baked in wood-fired ovens hence the characterful caramelised crust. Bread Bread’s sourdough Vollkorn rye is so moist, complex and satisfying, it doesn’t need butter. HOW DOWE MAKE THE MOST OF THIS TREND? Check out your competition – including Polish stores – and if there’s enough of a market, sell the best sourdough you can find. Offer tasters. Tap into the home-baking mania. Copy the Bon Gout Deli in Exeter or the Corto Italian Deli, Twickenham and carry organic, stoneground wholemeal and unbleached white flour. Consider selling baking accessories such as dough scrapers and even sourdough starter. ANY OTHER IDEAS? Ring the changes with sweet sourdough goods. Bakers traditionally used the discard from their starter to add a tang to scones, cakes, doughnuts, panettone, pretzels and challah. How about banana sourdough block cakes, or poppy seed babka as made at the Margot bakery in London’s East Finchley? HERE TO STAY OR PASSING FAD? After lockdown, we suspect home bakers like Dan will make bread a little less often. They’ll respect bakers more and appreciate quality. And when they come to you for their flour or loaf, they can develop new passions for what goes on top, like smelly cheese, charcuterie and delicious honeys. Tracklements – from classics to contemporary masterpieces ORDER ONLINE AT TRADE.TRACKLEMENTS.CO.UK OR CALL:01666 827044 Original slow food or hipster cliche? Sally-Jayne Wright investigates lockdown’s trendiest bake SOURDOUGH