Those of you who are having trouble with sourdough starters, etc. might have an easier time of it with this. It requires no starter and in my judgement captures 99.9% of the flavor of old-school SFSD.
http://weightloss-slim.fit/node/49375/san-franciscostyle-sour-bread%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EYes, you will add lactic and acetic acids extrinsically, but those acids will be present in a live sourdough culture anyway, whether as the byproduct of microbial activity or whether added by the baker.
If you've never had old-school SFSD before and have followed discussions of the old-school gold-rush bakeries such as Larraburu, Parisian, Colombo, Toscana and Pisano, and want to find out what all the fuss is about without turning your kitchen into a microbiology lab, here is an expedient and certainly more foolproof way to do it.
In addition, here is a link to my sourdough blog. Particularly interesting is Rita Robison's glimpse inside the Toscana bakery, formerly located in Oakland.
http://www.chrisnology.info/sourdough/sourdough_index.htm
Chris, I am waiting for the Lactic acid you recommended. I am going to give this a try. The first bake will be exactly as you’ve instructed. I want to give this a serious try. QUESTION - in reading the Amazon reviews I noticed that a number of people said that the flavor resembled a lemon/lime flavor. To me that sounds more like an acetic than lactic flavor. How would you describe the flavor?
What do you think about a future bake using your instructions except, instead of commerial yeast using SD Levain and adjusting the fermentation times. Have you tried this?
I appreciate your help.
Danny
I haven't tasted the lactic acid itself but I do know that if you use too much of it the bread will take on a peculiar flavor. That's why it's important to measure as precisely as possible.
Does your digital scale resolve to the 1/10 of a gram or some other?
I suppose you could try adding a tiny amount of lactic acid to a sourdough culture to try to boost the sourness, but I would caution against the bread tasting peculiar.
Yes, am able to accurately measure the lactic acid. I will be sure to follow the formula closely.
Dan
Thanks for posting that SFSD patent application. It makes for fascinating reading.
Note to anyone interested (David S?): They salted their (patentably novel?) liquid levain.
And other interesting nuggets. Some serious microbiology going on there.
Tom
...try this recipe eventually, once I source some lactic acid powder and instant yeast.
Website is very helpful, nice information you've got linked there.