Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Wow. Nelson, then Jason, now Serious Eats. Talk about a slow link day. Hmmm, does anyone really believe it's "hard to buy good bread" in the San Francisco Bay Area? Here's a thought: Maybe Nelson just isn't very good at buying bread.

I have been to plenty of bakeries while I've lived here and, frankly, I've never felt I've had sourdough "pushed" on me. And not in restaurants. Not even in crappy restaurants. I will tell you one place that you will find mostly sourdough -- SFO. Nelson, are you doing most of your shopping at the airport? Mystery solved...

While sourdough is tasty in some applications, it isn't appropriate for everything. That said, I'd suggest heading to one of the numerous bakeries in and around the SF Bay Area, instead of your supermarket bakery. I don't see sourdough pushed en masse except at Safeway or Raley's.

I think that sourdough has its place, but that it isn't kept in it. When I lived in Virginia, my local Harris Teeter sold 'baguettes', which were sour dough. I can remember far too many cheese and wine evenings, bread puddings and other events where sourdough was the feature. It doesn't stay in its place in a cheese and wine event, and it sure does make for an odd bread pudding.

I like sourdough! But I have yet to come across a sourdough baguette that wasn't marked as sourdough..that's odd.

I love sour bread, but I don't really love sourdough. The sour bread that I like is the northern European kind of rye bread (rugbrød, roggebrood, whatever you want to call it), which is sour but has an underlying sweetness to it as well, which goes very nicely with cheese, smoked fish, etc. In contrast, sourdough is often a bit harsh, I find. But then, I've never been to San Francisco, and it's possible that the sourdough I've tried hasn't been of a very high quality.

While I agree that it's hard to find "good" bread in the US without doing some leg work and going out of my way. I disagree that consumers think sourdough is synomous with quality. It's good for somethings, like foccacia is good for somethings and not for others. It's like anything else, there are good examples and not so good.

For me, I'd have to agree that it's good with butter and soups, creamy or otherwise. I like a toasty sourdough sandwich with a little dijon and mayo, arugula, sliced tomato, bacon or good salty ham, medium fried egg, and plenty of black pepper. It's also good bread to panini. So I disagree on the sandwich thing.

I think people identify sourdough with SF and apparenty it's because 75% of the bread in those grocery stores IS sourdough, LOL.

It's the phrase "grocery store" that gives it away. You don't find good bread in a commercial grocery. Period. End of story. You might find okay bread, even acceptable on a good day - but it's not good bread and never will be good bread. Preservatives and additives and the crap they add to make the bread shelf stable do not make good bread.

"Sourdough" masks the flavors of the additives so that the grocery can charge a ridiculous amount for "artisan" bread. It's not true sourdough. It's some chemically derived sourdough substitute. There is no starter that's been lovingly fed, no careful monitoring of the rise, no thought put into crust and crumb - just chemical shortcuts.

Those who make bread know that good bread is inexpensive to make, only takes a few ingredients, and the best on the day its made. Good bread tastes so wonderful that, sometimes, even buttering it feels like sacrilege. Good bread is chewy and crackly on the outside, moist and tender on the inside, and tastes of the acidity of yeast and the delicate nuttiness of wheat. It doesn't need fancy fillers or additives to be good. It's great on its own.

Down with grocery store bread! Up with real bread!

I love sourdough. I think it is so much better than many other types of bread. And I live in a country where there are plenty of good types of bread!

I *love* sourdough too. i get sad that good sourdough is hard to find on the east coast. it is my preferred bread for breakfast toast and sandwiches!

I agree that it is good with creamy soups and plain butter, but other than those two applications...DO NOT WANT.

I used to eat sourdough because I thought that's what grownups do. Then I decided being a grownup wasn't that important and I've been much happier ever since.

Okay, I think that some people are misunderstanding the situation here. As a native San Franciscan, I definitely think that the SF grocery stores do push sourdough a bit. However, they are, at least in my memory, brought daily to Safeway and other grocery stores from the local bakeries, so they are/were better than the packaged bread because it was fresh, instead of packaged. You could always get a fresh loaf of sourdough in SF if not other breads.

I agree with the bagel comment that wthrop made--it's a regional specialty and a regional taste, but not something that's necessarily "posh" or "quality."

Also there's something called "sweet sourdough" that I always liked--it's not sour, closer to a baugette taste but can come in a regular loaf shape. My dad makes the BEST corned beef hash with egg sandwiches with this.

The same could be said about rye bread, bagels or challah. There's good and there's bad and there's God-awful. Let' see Wonder Bread or sourdough? Gee what an effing dilemma!
@southern-bella; A baguette won't work for that, take it from me.

Ugh...no? Bad sourdough exists PROPORTIONATELY to bad bread, in general. Yeah, in SF, you'll find it on every corner, but that's a different story completely. And to my belief, the best breads always taste better plain (no will one agree with me, but that is my belief), so that doesn't discount sourdough for me. I do like regular baguettes and wheat better, but I acknowledge that a good sourdough can be delicious, and there are just SO many good ones! I live near Berkeley, and there's Acme, Semifreddi's, La Brea (via Lucky), La Farine, Grace...

Do I live in the same bay area???? Hard to find good bread???

First of all, I take a lot of offense at the "good bread being particularly hard to find in SF" comment...wha? As other have mentioned, there is plenty of great bread to be found here. Maybe there is a lot of sourdough being "pushed" (including the airport of course) but jeez, that doesn't mean there's a dearth of any other kind of bread. And personally I love sourdough, for the record :)

sourdough is the most perfect bread for anything! toasted with butter,hollowed out with soup inside ,sandwich fixin's or anything else! i also go to to the warf and get a loaf anytime i am in SF. it always makes me happy.

This person is crazy! Sourdough is perfect for breakfast and can't be substituted in a BLT.

The argument should have been that most "sourdough" in restaurants is just white bread with a fancy name. There is no mistaking a piece of real sourdough bread, and it is sublime.

I feel sorry for folks who don't like sourdough - I've been turning myself upside down and inside out trying to develop a starter with just the right tang - I've got a loaf proofing in the kitchen, and just can't wait to get the thing in the oven and find out what it will be like. It has been so much fun, feeding these little starters, and watching them become more and more vigorous. I agree with gb944 about crab, butter, and sourdough bread, but like a big glug of cocktail sauce, or lacking that, my own counterfeit made with a good organic catsup and Beaver company horseradish (made in Beaverton, Oregon) on top - with a cold beer. I prefer Dungeness crab, my husband is partial to snow crab. Sourdough makes it even better than it is by itself! Oh, and a sourdough bread, chopped olive, and cream cheese sandwich (haven't had one in ten years or so, but, yum!) And, sourdough bread makes lovely toast, with a good apricot jam. So, lighten up - some of us actually love it that we can find sourdough all over the place in SF, we just wish it was as good in other locales.

I'm going to assume that the problem with this statement is one of terminology, rather than ignorance. I believe the author has an issue with the flavor and versatilty of San Francisco sourdough, rather than sourdough breads in general.

'Sourdough' breads are simply breads made with natural ferments rather than from commercial yeasts. They can range from very sour tasting to not at all sour, depending on the ratio of lactic acid (mild-flavored) to acetic acid (sour) producing bacteria in the culture. Breads made with natural ferments tend to have more complex flavor profiles and texture and keep longer than straight yeasted breads.

'San Francisco sourdough' is made using a culture containing a bacterium (Lactobacillus sanfrancisco, natch) that is dominant in the local microflora of the Bay Area, and is a strong producer of acetic acid.

As for the idea that sourdough breads are "sour because in the US, particularly in San Francisco, it's hard to buy good bread", I have no idea what that is supposed to mean.

I absoluty love sourdough - for anything - including French Toast and Bread Pudding. It makes FABULOUS sandwiches. I was born and raised in Oakland and my family owned a big Italian restaurant - so I grew up on sourdough. Sourdough is always my first choice. On the other hand, I absolutely hate rye bread. Yuk.

ok....thanks all....now i'm freakin starvin......for some nice sourdough bread.....guess i gotta go to publix an get some.....i dont think i'd like sourdough bread dipped in olive oil.....but it makes a great stuffing for a turkey !!!

IT'S HARD TO GET GOOD BREAD IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA???????

surely, SURELY you jest. i have lived in new york for 12 years and i STILL miss the wonderful bread in the bay area, especially berkeley -- semi freddi's, acme, grace, and the cheese board, to name just a few of the absolutely world class bread makers there. new york's got a lot of catching up to do, imho.

i don't much care for the touristy kind of sour sourdough bread, but the "levain" that is used to make the baguettes at the cheeseboard and semi freddi's produces some incomparably delicious baguettes.

SF sourdough isn't ideal for everything but just because you can get a passable (not great, but passable) loaf at every supermarket on the west coast doesn't mean that it has ruined every other kind of bread. I live in NYC and don't think that the lack of good bread in local markets and bakeries is because of all the rye bread baked in the area. I think his anger is really misplaced on this one. Of course, I also have no idea who he is or why I should care about his opinion so whatever.....

i love sourdough... actually I didn't like it when I first tried it, too tangy for my kiddy tastebuds at the time. But, now that my pallate has evolved, the ones I've had recently are not even as tangy as I remember the original being... they just taste like regular white bread.

I don't know how this rates with Bay Area dwellers, but I liked the Boudin sandwiches I had the last time I was in SF.