The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Aging and Flavor

May 17, 2007 - 10:51pm
crumb bum's picture
crumb bum

Aging and Flavor

Hello All

I have a question for all of you sourdough experts out there.  I recently made SD Guys 1 stage sandwich loaf.  Both my wife and I noticed the sour tang became more pronounced after a few days.  My question is do the bacteria responsible for this flaver live through the baking process and continue to multiply?  Or does the flavor of the bread become more concentrated as more and more water evaporates from the bread?  It just does not seem possible the bacteria could live at the 200 degree finish temp of bread.  Just curious.

Da Crumb Bum

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JMonkey's picture
JMonkey
May 18 2007 - 6:14am

Charles Perry in the rec.food.sourdough Usenet group had an interesting post on this topic just yesterday. Ticker, by the way, is Charles' cat and resident sourdough expert. She answers most sourdough inquiries, but here Charles has to go it alone:

Yes, both the texture and flavor of the bread change with time. I should have waited for Ticker to return from her hunting expedition, but I will give my best guess on the causes.


One thing, on standing the aromatics permeate through the loaf to improve the overall flavor. Also the loaf loses water so certainly the salt, and presumably the sour taste is more concentrated. Just increasing the salt concentration would dial up the intensity of all the flavor. (to a point).