I’ve been trying to perfect my homemade sourdough. I’ve done a lot of reading. The earlier poster is correct that it depends on environment so you won’t reproduce a SF sourdough’s flavor exactly elsewhere. However, you can definitely improve the flavor with a longer proof. I don’t know which local bakeries are most likely to do this. The best store bought sourdough used to be LaBrea but I haven’t purchased it in years.

You can come to my house! I am from SF and have spent a long time working with my sourdough to get it as sour as possible (works better in winter than summer, so c’mon over!)

Ravenhook bakery, they sell at farmers markets.

https://store.boudinbakery.com/the-original-san-francisco-sourdough-c5.aspx

I haven't found anything here that replicates the tanginess of true San Francisco sourdough.

Anonymous wrote:Sourdough is really dependent on the local environment for its flavor, and you’ve essentially got to make/keep your starter in SF for it to taste like SF sourdough.

This. The one at TJ is pretty decent though.

I started making my own FWIW, and it seems a cold (refrigerated) long proof is what accentuates the sour/tangy flavor. Maybe ask how the bakery proofs!

Anonymous wrote:Trader Joe's

Really? Which sourdough at TJ’s is sour? I’ve tried a couple and they are pretty white bread adjacent.

Trader Joe's

Anonymous wrote:Following. I used to buy the Whole Foods sourdough for many years, but it just tastes like crusty bread now. I wish they'd go back to the old recipe.

+1

For now, the Whole Foods pan de campagna is the most sour bread we can find.

Following. I used to buy the Whole Foods sourdough for many years, but it just tastes like crusty bread now. I wish they'd go back to the old recipe.

(OP) the whole foods "SF sourdough" isn't sour since they switched to making them in- house. They used to get their bakery sourdough from a mass distribution bakery in Arizona, Upper Crust https://www.ucbakery.com/ (they par-baked them in store before going into the bread dept)

Sourdough is really dependent on the local environment for its flavor, and you’ve essentially got to make/keep your starter in SF for it to taste like SF sourdough.

What do you think of the Whole Foods version? I'm French and like pain Poilane, which is something heartier, but very tasty and tangy, and I've acclimated to the WF SF sourdough, which is definitely more bland, but I don't know where to look for something better.

Whole Foods has one.

Has anyone found sourdough recently that has the tangy-ness of SF sourdough? It’s so disappointing to keep buying loaves (even ones called SF-style) that just taste like white bread. Thanks