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OK, this is the thing with sourdough. The regular yeast thats used in regular bread, such as back on the east coast and many other parts of the country (and the world) wouldnt raise the bread out in california. ( back when california was first being settled) so they had to use a different type of bacteria (yeast) to make the bread rise. It has to do with whats in the water. This yeast made the bread taste sour. Hence the name sourdough. This also made cooks make totally different recipes for Pizza etc. I love breads and pasts. So for my own taste I like pizza and breads back east like in Pennsylvania, or new york. I live in Utah now and they dont have any breads or pizzas that I like. So Im not happy (but I'll live)

I live in Darwin, Australia, and work in a bakery and I've got to say, sourdough is my favourite type of bread that we make there. Actually it is my favourite type of anything we make there. You know a bread is good when a seventeen year old girl chooses it over a brownie or a cream bun!

There are various degrees of "sour" in sourdough breads. SF Sourdough is defined by a tartness that a French sourdough doesn't have. Starters that are rye based tend to be much more bitter than starters made with wheat. All too often in commercial bakeries all across the world, when a baker makes sourdough he/she is also using a flavour enhancer that is intended to up the "tang factor". As the proud caretaker of several home grown starters, I have a few that are very sour but I also have a few that make breads that have such a subtle tang that you would never know it was a sourdough based bread. It is all about the starter...

I don't really care for bread, especially dark breads. The only kind of bread that I find tolerable has been baked within a few hours. That said, I actually miss dearly sour dough bread. The only place I've been able to find sour dough bread regularly in metro Cleveland is the craptastic bread Trader Joe sells. No thanks. I love sour dough bread too much. I can get rye everywhere here, but I can't stand rye.

For a month every summer for 20 years, my mother and I would vacation in SF to escape the heat. I ate crab sandwiches on sour dough bread every single day with a bowl of soup. What bliss!

Sour dough bread works with everything, if you like it a lot. :P It's the only bread I truly enjoy with rare roast beef, along with Best Foods mayo, alfalfa sprouts, cucumbers, and a dab of yellow mustard. Yum! It's great with lox or even with banana and honey sandwiches. It's wonderful in bread pudding too!

Not that crazy about sourdough - I would never seek it out - but if it's good and it's fresh I enjoy it.

A severely underrepresented bread is salt-rising bread. It does not have that many "applications" (lol) but it makes the best toast in the world.

sourdough is excellent in almost every application! SF sourdough is famous because of their particular wild yeast. back in the early days of bread, before commercial processes were developed for baker's and instant yeast, every bread was sourdough because the only way to grow the yeast culture was through capturing wild yeast. SF had a particularly nice strain, and that's why they have such a wonderful bread culture there. anyone who complains that sourdough isn't appropriate for certain cheeses or wines really needs to check themselves -- a lot of these cheeses were developed to be paired with sourdough, the only bread available at the time anywhere in the world.

Listen folks... I'm very good friends with the fine folks over at www.sandwichreport.com
So if anyone knows sandwiches trust me... its me?
That was an awkward sentence. Anywho, I digress...
Sourdough is perfectly acceptable for sandwiches. In fact it can be downright delicious.
The key to a good sandwich using sourdough is a) start with a loaf that has a soft spongy interior with a crusty exterior and b) use solid ingredients that stand up to the distinct flavor of the bread. Using bad ingredients with sourdough would be like pairing a prime cut new york steak with a glass of champagne fresh out of a box!

I offer this:
-Large slices of fine quality sourdough.
-Slices of medium to sharp cheddar.
-Sliced Roast Beef
-Mustard
-Horseradish Mayo
-Red Onion
-Fresh Sliced Tomatoes
-A few bitter greens (Arugula or Radicchio)

And Voila! You have a sourdough sandwich fit for a king.

To echo the above: no good bread in the bay? Are you high? I've missed nothing more since moving to NY as the bread from back home, particularly the sourdough. I finally found a decent loaf at the Union Square GM and ate half of it in one sitting.

Hell, I grew up eating french toast made with sourdough. If you love it, you get it. I wouldn't eat rye bread on a bet. Doesn't mean I'm going to tell someone who likes it that they have no taste and don't know anything about good bread. And like someone upthread said, not everything labeled "sourdough" is actually sourdough.

One of my favorite memories, growing up on the California coast, was a meal I made of a half loaf of sourdough bread, a half a cracked crab and a stick of butter. That was when I knew that I was a foodie, through and through.

Sourdough can be really great bread, especially when it has good crust and good crumb. Some of the sourness can get kind of overpowering, but there is little to compare with garlic bread made from sourdough and a fresh bowl of chili.

All I've learned over the years in NY, PA, and IN (Pittsburgh and Bloomington, if you really want to know specifics) is that if you want to find good bread you've got to hit everywhere. Leave no stone unturned. Sometimes that challah you love from Bakery X is spot on every time, but those loaves at Bakery Y can be mind-numbingly insane in comparison.

I found the same to be true of sourdough when I went looking, same with baguettes and other varieties. Besides, in most places you have no shortage of options! Well, so long as independent bakeries and whatnot are thriving. I should find a few around Bloomington, come to think of it.

Besides, if you want fun in Pittsburgh grab a friend with a car, see if anyone else wants to go compare some bakeries, and say you're buying $5 worth of samples for everyone at each. I did it for my recital and, truth be told, it was a hell of an afternoon. You end up all over Pittsburgh, from the Italian bakery all the way in Monroeville close to the old Media Play and Outback, the cheap, homey places in Shadyside, the various offerings in Squirrel Hill...crazy stuff.

Then you follow it up with a beer run, of course. Take your pick. ;)

I think, as others have said, sourdough and other breads each have their own time and place.

I happen to think sourdough makes great breakfasts and love the "toad in the hole" with sourdough best. I also think with the right cheese it makes great grilled cheese.

Try living in small town Ohio before complaining about finding good bread!

It's Friday and I think a lot of folks on this link need a drink.