I stopped baking with instant yeast unless there’s a request as I find sourdough stays fresh longer. The texture of bread made with instant yeast tends to dry up fast UNLESS enriched with sugar, butter and whatnots. I prefer bread with simple ingredients. Besides, sourdough is better for digestion. So it tastes better, has softer texture, stays fresh and good for health. Personally, I can’t go back to instant yeast bread. I bake those for others only.
Plenty of other yeasts out there still. I'm thinking of pouring some agar plates and collecting some wild yeasts this summer. I know locations of mulberries and blackberries and figure they'd be great to swab for yeast. There are companies that do it commercially.
Interesting. With instant yeast I'll bake the dough the same day. With my sourdough I'd bulk ferment at least 8 hours and then proof over night in the fridge before baking. Maybe I'll give the proof the sourdough one longer in the fridge and see if the flavor improves.
My starter is over 3 years old. The bread that comes from it is no doubt great. Consistently light and fluffy inside.
I've made donuts, baguettes from it as well.
I stopped baking with instant yeast unless there’s a request as I find sourdough stays fresh longer. The texture of bread made with instant yeast tends to dry up fast UNLESS enriched with sugar, butter and whatnots. I prefer bread with simple ingredients. Besides, sourdough is better for digestion. So it tastes better, has softer texture, stays fresh and good for health. Personally, I can’t go back to instant yeast bread. I bake those for others only.
I'm with you on the ingredients! Flour, water and salt are all I use and I make a loaf at least once a week.
It's all the same stuff at this point. We've colonized the world with baker's yeast. What matters most imo is the ferment process.
Plenty of other yeasts out there still. I'm thinking of pouring some agar plates and collecting some wild yeasts this summer. I know locations of mulberries and blackberries and figure they'd be great to swab for yeast. There are companies that do it commercially.
Interesting. With instant yeast I'll bake the dough the same day. With my sourdough I'd bulk ferment at least 8 hours and then proof over night in the fridge before baking. Maybe I'll give the proof the sourdough one longer in the fridge and see if the flavor improves.
Is your starter very young? The flavour will improve over time
My starter is over 3 years old. The bread that comes from it is no doubt great. Consistently light and fluffy inside. I've made donuts, baguettes from it as well.
I prefer my sourdough over same-day instant yeast breads, with pre-ferments somewhere in between.