I have a problem... what does good sourdough taste like?
I suppose it is rather funny to be making homemade sourdough bread and never having eaten any of it before. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be comparing it to. I was in the San Francisco airport this time last year and saw everyone advertising their sourdough bread and wondered what was so special about it. I didn't buy any! What a dummy!
Anyway, my friend knows I'm in full sourdough production at the moment, so today she bought lunch over. (Oh, she didn't come to bake, we paint together.) She bought a little sourdough bun from a local bakery that is just starting to sell sourdough bread. I won't buy it because it's nearly $7 a loaf! I was excited now to be trying what I thought was real sourdough.
Well, I found it to be quite flavourless and stodgy apart from the lovely olives in it. It had a bit of a tang to it and a little bit of a crunchy crust, but it made rather a hard task to eat it! I was surprised by the density and heaviness of the bought bun.
In fact, even though my sourdough is far from perfect in these early stages of learning, I far prefer what I'm making which seems moist, slightly chewy, less dense, nuttyish, slightly sourish, with a crust to die for. And I'm a beginner!!!
Soooooooooooo everyone, what should good sourdough taste like? And is it supposed to be a bit heavier and dense than regular bread?