Background to my comments in today’s @elmundo_es by @josmrobles
Q: Everybody in Spain does remember @theloafbakeries “in a box” experience [from 2012] as the beginning of a revolution. Do you?
DL: The Loaf -in a box- ignited a revolution but the ‘yesca’, the tinder was already in Spain with the connections @IbanYarza’s web forum El Foro del Pan made, the public bread symposiums in Madrid that baker @JavierMarca organised, the many women and men trialling sourdough experiments at home, and of course, the small artisan bakers on the high street making different loaves alongside the everyday barra de pan básica.
Q: The Spanish Government is now preparing a law about sourdough…and it’s not very good for artisan bakeries. [It won’t] limit use of commercial yeast in sourdough, it imposes a minimum % [of sourdough to be added, 15% of total mix weight] and requires a minimum fermentation time 20 hours [from mix to bake]. The paradox is: your ‘Extreme’ bread recipe [developed at The Loaf in a Box in San Sebastian in 2012, using 2% sourdough with a 12-14 hour 35C fermentation] would fall outside of the new ‘ sourdough bread’ label.
DL: Absolutely insane. Anyone that wants to buy a loaf of bread simply because it is fashionably labelled by the government as “sourdough” should be aware. A great loaf like my Pan Extreme will always sell well to customers who care about good bread, it doesn’t need to be called “sourdough”, and I would argue that it shouldn’t be up-sold to customers with that word attached just to increase the price. However, I would also say that the only raising agent used in my Pan Extreme is a sourdough leaven, it has a short 12-14 hour rise at natural very warm temperatures without modern refrigeration in deference to the way bread was traditionally made in Spain, so to say that it can’t be sold as sourdough because it doesn’t contain enough leaven or the length of fermentation is too short is ridiculous. #LaGuerraDelPan
