Sweltering Bread
Challenge: Making Sourdough bread in 40 degree plus heat
I’m in Rio de Janeiro in one of their hottest summers and trying to make sourdough bread for friends and family. The first two batches were terrible, over-proofed and then turned very sour. Even when I reduced the rising time on the second batch to about 12 hours start to finish, the bread was far too sour, although the structure was not bad.
So with the third batch and what was left of my patience and pride, I made the sponge with refrigerated water. This and a slightly cooler night temperature of 27 degrees and a 16 hour process did the trick… delicious bread. What a treat after a week of white fluff!
This makes me wonder all the more what the first breads must have tasted like. Bread throughout history must have been quite sour in many parts of the world and varied markedly with the seasons.