On 2021-02-28 5:02 p.m., Boron Elgar wrote:
>
> Ran into this online about sourdough blistering. Now I get to poke
> around and see if it makes sense.
>
> "This is because acidic conditions created by sourdough breaks down
> the gluten near the surface. As the bread bakes, steam is created and
> it escapes through mini-chimneys all throughout the crust where the
> gluten has been weakened. Those mini-chimneys end up looking like
> blisters."
>
> https://wheatbeat.com/blisters/
>
My teachers at the local Alliance Française told me that they did not
like N.American style sourdough. The French equivalent, pain uu levain,
has a more subtle flavour, probably because the levain is kept at ~60%
hydration rather than the 100% hydration typical of sourdoughs. ISTR
that the high hydration favours the acid.
Therefore French boulangers see the blisters as a fault.