{"id":6730,"date":"2021-09-09T15:11:27","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T14:11:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insider.fairwayfoodservice.com\/?p=6730"},"modified":"2024-03-08T12:18:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T12:18:42","slug":"why-is-sourdough-so-popular","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insider.thewholesalegroup.co.uk\/articles\/why-is-sourdough-so-popular\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is Sourdough so Popular?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sourdough bread was once a rare find, saved for specialist shops and on-trend cafes. However, over the last few years, the delicious bread has become a weekly buy for many \u2013 or bake, if you\u2019ve jumped on the sourdough making bandwagon, as so many did during the lockdown. And it\u2019s now become a hugely influential factor in where people shop or dine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supplier of frozen bakery products, D\u00e9lifrance<\/a>, has taken a deep dive into the bread category in its latest bread report, aptly named, Prove it<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>The report highlights key category trends, including what consumers want from the bread market, in and out of home, as well as the rise of the nation\u2019s love for sourdough and just why it has become so popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bread is so much more than something to hold your sandwich filling. It\u2019s something to be celebrated, savoured and enjoyed. Many establishments serve bread to customers at the beginning of a meal, which sets the tone for the rest of the experience. If that bread doesn\u2019t have the right amount of crunch on the outside and soft springiness on the inside, it could affect the customer\u2019s opinion of the whole meal\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that according to the Prove it<\/em><\/a> report <\/em>95% of consumers say taste is one of their top three reasons for buying bread, and almost half (49%) saying it\u2019s the number one reason why they buy a particular type of bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health and wellness are also key, with almost a fifth of consumers choosing their bread for the additional benefits it has, not to mention simple, natural ingredients\u2026 one of the main reasons that our air-bubble filled sourdough bread is so popular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sourdough uses very few ingredients. In fact, a basic sourdough bread contains just flour, water and salt. If you\u2019re not in the 33% of the nation that\u2019s considered making sourdough in the last year, you may be wondering where the yeast is\u2026 This is one of the reasons sourdough is so great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise (those big bubbles) comes from a natural fermentation process between the flour and the water. You may have heard people talking about their \u2018starter\u2019 or \u2018mother dough\u2019 (and being very protective over it). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A starter is a mixture of flour and water in equal parts, which owners \u2018feed\u2019 daily, discarding a little each time too. Over a week or so, the fermentation process really gets going and the starter will double in size. When it gets to this stage, it\u2019s ready to bake with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some people will then make a \u2018leaven\u2019, where a little of the starter is added to small quantities of flour and water, to get it really \u2018active\u2019. They will then use this to make their sourdough bread, which traditionally just has flour, water and salt in it. You may hear people talking about \u2018percentages\u2019, and \u2018hydration\u2019, which is when it starts to sound complicated\u2026 but it\u2019s really just flour and water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you\u2019ve nursed your starter right, and given the dough the love and attention it needs, the result is a thing of beauty: A rustic, crispy loaf of bread, slightly chewy and with a hint of sourness. Once you\u2019ve mastered the ultimate sourdough loaf, that\u2019s when it\u2019s time to experiment: pizza bases, focaccias, sourdough rye bread, wholemeal sourdough, sourdough crumpets\u2026 you\u2019ll be amazed at just what you can do with a perfectly active sourdough starter (and how good it tastes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If baking your own sourdough sounds like a lot of effort, don\u2019t worry, there are lots of establishments you can get your sourdough from these days, like D\u00e9lifrance<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bread is eaten throughout the day: as toast for breakfast, as a sandwich at lunch, and as a side to dinner. D\u00e9lifrance expects specialist breads like sourdough to continue to grow in popularity, so if they\u2019re not on your menu, you could be missing out on a large slice of the market \u2013 research shows<\/a> that better quality options could encourage 23% of consumers to eat more bread. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help get you started, here\u2019s some innovative and delicious ways to add sourdough to your menu:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Breakfast:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n