Heard a lady at the bake shop say sourdough is 'too trendy' now

I was picking up flour at The Bakers' Shelf last Saturday and overheard this woman telling the cashier that sourdough is just a fad and she's tired of seeing it everywhere. I didn't say anything then but it's been bugging me. I've been maintaining my starter for 8 years, through weather changes and a move across state lines. It's not about being trendy for me, it's about making bread that actually tastes like something. Commercial yeast loaves are fine for sandwiches but they don't have that tang or that chewy crumb you only get from a properly fed starter. I don't care if 50 people in my town start a sourdough phase and quit after a month. That doesn't make my method any less valid. Anyone else get annoyed when people dismiss a technique just because it's popular right now?

3 comments

3 Comments

mary_foster9220d ago

My starter is named Frances and I've had her since 2013. I got talked down to last year by a guy at the farmers market who said sourdough was just a quarantine hobby. I just said "okay" and walked away but it stuck with me too. What helped was bringing a loaf to my book club and watching everyone go quiet while eating it. That's the thing people miss, the actual bread is good. Not because it's popular but because it tastes better and keeps longer. I stopped caring what anyone thinks about my starter when I realized they're not the ones feeding it every week.

carr.elliot14d ago

I read somewhere that sourdough was literally the only bread option for thousands of years before commercial yeast happened.

alice26920d ago

Honestly I just read this article in some food magazine about how sourdough was actually the standard way to make bread for thousands of years before they figured out how to package yeast for commercial use. So calling it trendy is like calling water trendy just because people started drinking it again. I've had my starter going since 2016 and it's been through a kitchen fire, two moves, and a week where I forgot to feed it and it still came back stronger than my store bought yeast ever did. That lady probably bought her bread from the grocery store and thinks "artisan" is a flavor. It's not about being a gatekeeper but when someone dismisses something they clearly don't understand it just makes me want to hand them a slice of my levain and watch their face change.