January 29, 2013 - 1:51pm
Sourdough Bread Ages?
I don't know if others have noticed this, but it seems my sourdough bread is not static in taste after it is baked. That is to say, the longer(days) it sits around, the more sour it seems to get. It's not unpleasant or stale just more tangy.
Is there a reason for this? I have to say I'm surprised as I would have thought the baking process would have kept the resulting bread in a steady state. The bread seems to age, almost like a cheese!
Linda
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Have noticed. Is good. Can't explain.
Awaiting enlightenment from someone closer to the window.
and humidity plays a role.
It even happens to sd breads that don't taste sour when fresh. But refrigerate that loaf for a week and toast it later... there is a little bit of sour showing up.
In most cases the pre-baking biology stops when the dough is baked into bread, but chemistry continues. New biology can also arise, if the bread is exposed to spores or to living things, such as people.
After an hour of searching thru the "Handbook of Dough Fermentations" I've found the following...
" The most important of the flavor-producing modifications occur as a result of Maillard reactions between sugar hydroxyl groups on one molecule and amino nitrogen on a second.... these reactions occur during the browning of the crust, and the newly synthesized flavor molecules slowly diffuse out of the crust into the body of the loaf. Removing the crust of a newly baked bread results in the loss of the expected flavor. "
Jim
sourdough and tucked it into the fridge for a week, the croutons I then make won't have a slight tang but the crust in a separate container will?
There isn't anything I could find in the "Handbook of Dough Fermentations" that is specific, pertaining to the question above. This is as close to an explanation as I could find. J Hamelman's books state the above to be true yet no explanation as to why.
It would be an interesting experiment. The crust would need to be removed as soon as the bread comes out of the oven. Don't know if I would be willing to destroy a loaf just to find out.