Bakery InnovationFrom Lucas
A Friday Night Bake
Today’s bake was built with Friday evening firmly in mind: overnight fermented sourdough kebab breads.
The recipe itself is simple. The sourdough is not what most people would expect.
When bakers reach for a sourdough, they are usually reaching for acidity — that sharp, tangy note that has become the whole point of sourdough for a lot of people. This one is deliberately the opposite. It is a mild, low-acid sourdough, chosen for flavour balance and for yeast performance rather than for sourness.
That is a distinction worth making, because sourdough is a tool, not a flavour. A highly acidic culture brings a strong taste and tightens the dough as it works. A mild one gives you the things fermentation is genuinely good for — dough strength, a better crumb, bread that keeps properly — without stamping a sour note over everything.
On this product that matters more than usual. A kebab bread is a carrier. It has to be soft, it has to fold without cracking, and it has to taste good without competing with what is going inside it. A sharp sourdough would fight the food rather than carry it.
To round out the flavour and help the crust take colour, we added 3% Cristone 30 from EDME Ingredients.
The whole thing was fermented overnight, which is where the depth comes from — slow and cool, so the flavour develops without the dough running away.
There is a commercial thought in here too. Plenty of craft bakeries sit a short drive from restaurants and takeaways buying in mediocre flatbread by the case. A properly fermented version, made locally, is an easy product to be better at than the incumbent.
Roll on 7pm.
“Sourdough is a tool, not a flavour. Most people reach for it for the acidity — sometimes the point is everything else it does.” — Lucas Fussnegger
Frequently Asked Questions
Does sourdough have to taste sour?
No. The level of acidity depends on how the culture is maintained and fermented. A mild, low-acid sourdough delivers the structural and keeping benefits of fermentation without a pronounced sour flavour.
What is kebab bread?
Kebab bread is a soft, flat, dimpled bread used to hold or accompany grilled meats. It needs to stay pliable enough to fold without cracking and mild enough not to overpower the filling.
Why ferment flatbread dough overnight?
A long, cool fermentation develops flavour and dough strength gradually, producing a better finished bread than a short, warm prove without risking the dough over-proving.
What does a mild sourdough bring to a dough?
Dough strength, improved crumb structure and better keeping quality — the benefits of fermentation, without the acidity dominating the taste of the finished product.
