Sour? Doh!

You might not think bread is the kind of thing where fashion is important - and it's not if you think of the more basic loaves. But get into the fancier end of the market (always more expensive, usually tastier and sometimes, but not always, healthier) and fashion reigns supreme. For some time now sourdough has been at the forefront of the fancier bread market, though wild flour is making some inroads, which is fine. But sourdough should be a choice, not inescapable.

The trouble is, I don't really like sourdough. I'm not particularly fond of its distinctive taste, the crust is way too hard - I always think I'm at risk of breaking a tooth on it - and it doesn't toast well, not starting to darken and crisp up until the crust is burning. We won't even mention those irritating holes that make it difficult to butter it or put jam on.

I have three corner shops, in the sense they are only 5 minutes walk away - Asda, Marks and Spencer, and Lidl. I particularly like the M&S bakery bread - their baguettes are the best I've had from a non-specialist baker outside of France. But they have gone sourdough mad. I'd say at least 75% of their fancier loaves are sourdough - and those that aren't are all white bread. The only wholemeal non-sourdough bread I can get from the bakery is a basic tin loaf.

I suspect sourdough is something of a bubble (get it?) in the marketing sense - at least, I hope so, and we can return to getting a better balance of fancier bread options for those of us who aren't dedicated followers of fashion.

Image (not M&S) from Unsplash by Mae Mu.

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