The 4 AM bread bake that made me question everything about my starter

So I read this thing from a bakery in Chicago that claims their 90 year old starter actually does less work than a 2 day old one in terms of flavor. I always thought older = better, but apparently the yeast and bacteria evolve to be more efficient, which means less tang. Is my whole sourdough philosophy just a romantic myth, or is that place just pushing their own angle? Curious if anyone else has seen a noticeable difference between young and old starters in their own bakes.

2 comments

2 Comments

faithpatel2d ago

And it totally tracks with what I’ve seen, my 8 month old starter makes a milder loaf than the one I killed last year at 3 weeks, that thing was a tang bomb. So yeah, maybe old starters are more about consistency and history than peak flavor, which honestly makes me feel better about not having some ancient heirloom.

kevinw9423h ago

Totally agree, same thing happened to me. My starter is about a year old now and the bread is way more chill, that first month was basically a vinegar bomb every time. It’s nice knowing I don’t gotta babysit some 50 year old thing to get good loaves.