Claim: In the victorian era, 1950s and continuing through the 1980s, mechanization of the baking process required drier dough than hand-formed loaves, leading to drier loaves that do not have the same large gas bubbles and chewy consistency of good sourdough, and despite this trend, sourdough remained popular in the bay area.
Evidence: Beginning in the 1950s and continuing through the 1980s, there was less fresh bread available across America, leading writer Henry Miller to complain, "You can travel 50,000 miles in America without once tasting a piece of good bread."