Toasting Sourdough

I have to turn the heat up on my toaster to get my sourdough bread to toast as brown as I'd like it. I think it's because I generally don't put sugar in my sourdough, and when I do, it's not much. Sugar helps to brown the bread. Also, if your crust is already very done, like artisan loafs generally are, you should expect them to burn before the center is browned. They are already most of the way there, after all. I bake my bread for a thin, soft crust, so it is good for sandwiches. It works better for toasting too, because it isn't too toasted to begin with.

In addition to the above comment fresh bread makes terrible toast, if you have some bread that is couple of days old I bet it would toast better.

Gerhard

Most versions of sourdough bread, and most no-knead breads do not toast like store bread or regular bread.

The reason is sugar.  When bread gets toasty brown, it is in fact the sugar in the bread that is caramelizing.  Most sourdough bread have no added sugar.

Even buying sourdough bread in most stores and bakeries have sugar and yeast added.  Part of the reason is so that they will toast, but the general public like the idea of sourdough bread but not the sourdough taste. 

except toasting SD bread.  But no toaster does or can .  It takes a full 6 minutes on the highest toasting setting to get it half way brown,  The gas grill on the the other hand does a great job with perfect grill marks and the bruschetta is killer as a result.

I toast mine under the grill. I find it helps if I put the grill rack down a little lower. 

You can get a hot and nicely browned slice by frying in a little olive oil. No need to butter it either, so it may be a little healthier too.

No it is not your imagination. A well soured sourdough bread is very hard to toast, if by toasting, you mean getting a nice brown color to the crust. In fact most San Francisco Sourdoughs, even the late baked ones have a very white crust or a blond crust at best. And this is because of the acidity in the bread retarding browning in the oven. Acid foods do not brown and chemistry has an answer as to why this is so.

This is a consequence of Maillard type reactions being favored at neutral to basic pH conditions. Adding vinegar or lemon juice to sauteed vegetables will also retard coloration and browning, especially for button mushrooms and the lactic acids will also retard browning while baking or toasting. If your sourdough is toasting quickly, it is not very sour. If you want to make a sourdough toast more evenly and your starter tends to be very sour, you can neutralize some of the acidity with added baking soda. The baking soda will convert the lactic and acetic acids to their neutral salts, ie sodium lactic and sodium acetate. Both sodium salts are still strong preservatives and in fact you may find sorbic acid, lactic acid sodium salts listed as funny chemical names on regular store bought breads and baked items as they will retard mold growth.

Bagels brown so nicely because they take a bath in a lye solution before baking and the lye breaks down some starch into sugars and makes the crust strongly alkaline promoting a nice browning of the crust. Same for traditional German style pretzels.

You can easily test the souring strength of a starter by adding pinches of baking soda and gauging how many before they stop fizzing immediately after each addition. This is a baker's acid titration. Also neutrazilng excess acidity can help to bring a sourdough culture back to life as even lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have limits to how much acid they can endure and still grow.