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🍞 NEW Guide: Master Your Loaf's Sourness

Published about 2 months agoΒ β€’Β 2 min read

Adjusting sourness in your loaf

I've been baking sourdough bread for a long while, and for most of that time, I was adjusting the sourness of my bread instinctively without fully understanding why certain things worked.

Now I've put it all together in one guide.

It covers the science (accessible, I promise), the practical levers you can pull at every stage, and the approach I use in my own kitchen to get exactly the flavor I'm after.

If you've ever wished your bread were more or less sour, this one's for you.

Read on!

In this week's newsletter:

  • Guide: A guide to all things sourness in sourdough bread
  • Recipes: 50-50 sourdough; buckwheat and malt; super soft sandwich bread
  • Baking Tip: How do I bake a very sour loaf?
  • Links: Who invented pizza?

πŸ’‘ Guide to adjusting sourness

Everything you need to know to dial in the perfect amount of tang in your sourdough breadβ€”whether you want it just barely sour or maximally sour.

🍞 Fifty-fifty sourdough bread

I love this bread because it's a great middle ground between a white loaf and a whole wheat loaf. You get the loft and openness of a white loaf, plus the flavor complexity and heartiness of whole grains.

One of my favs.

🍞 Buckwheat and malt sourdough

I love the heartiness of this loaf, and as an option, swap out the barley malt syrup for blackstrap molasses for a bitter/sour edge (in the best way possible).

🍞 Tangzhong sandwich bread

On the other end of the spectrum, this light, barely-sour loaf is perfect for lunches and toast!

The all-white flour levain and same-day bake for a delicate bread that's got all the complexity of sourdough fermentation, but not too much.

Come Join The Baker's Corner

Want to chat with a bunch of other friendly and enthusiastic bakers and me? Join us to help support the site and get all my sourdough tools, the entire recipe archive with editable recipes, and access to our private chat channel. Plus, get first dibs on booking workshops and international trips (think: Sicily, Copenhagen, and more)!

πŸ’¬ Member Discussion of the Week

I just made my first sourdough using your beginner loaf, and it turned out great. But I'd like to make it more sour next time. How do I get there? Will fermenting the levain longer affect the bread's rise?

A few levers you can pull, alone or in combination:

  • Add more whole grains. Swap in whole wheat or whole rye for some of the white flour. Whole grains carry more nutrients and microbial activity, which builds acidity faster.
  • Use your starter when it's very ripe. Wait until it has a pungent, sharp aroma before mixing β€” that's when acid production is at its peak.
  • Lean on cold fermentation. A cold bulk, a cold proof, or both will develop noticeably more tang over time in the fridge.
  • Use less levain, not more. Counterintuitive, but a smaller inoculation means a longer fermentation, which means more total acid is built up in the dough by the time you bake.

Read through the full guide for more on adjusting sourness.

πŸ›Ÿ 2 Ways I Can Help You Today

πŸ“™ What I'm Reading and Watching

  • ​Who Invented Pizza? (History) I'll spoil it for you: Italians in Naples. But an interesting backstory here!

Happy baking!

P.S. Have you seen my new sourdough pizza cookbook coming out later this year? πŸ•

​Join me in the member's community, master sourdough, and get baker's perks.

Thank you for subscribing 🩢. Sent from Maurizio at The Perfect Loaf, 8100 Wyoming Blvd NE Ste M4, #343, Albuquerque, NM 87113.
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The Perfect Loaf 🍞

Maurizio Leo

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