UK | Sourdough bread has become so popular with British shoppers that it now accounts for one in every 13 bread products sold in the UK.
Demand for the game-changing bread, beloved by artisan bakers and food connoisseurs, has become so popular that it is now a regular purchase at supermarkets.
In the last year, volume demand for the hard-crusted, rustic-styled bread has soared by more than 40 per cent at Tesco – a rise of an extra 14 million sourdough bakery products compared with the 12 previous months.
The supermarket now sells more than 40 million sourdough products a year and has just launched its first-ever sourdough baguette to offer customers even more choices.
Among the reasons for the strong growth are the density of the bread, which makes it great for toasting, its versatility as the base for a filling snack such as smashed avocado on sourdough and the rising popularity of speciality loaves in general right now.
“Interest in this wonderfully tangy and chewy bread has grown spectacularly in the last few years. As customer demand has grown, we have responded by increasing the amount of sourdough bread products on offer, including loaves, baguettes, rolls, and crumpet varieties,” said Tesco bakery buyer Amelia Roberts.
“Instead of seeing bread as just something to toast or make a sandwich with, more people are beginning to appreciate it as a food to savour, and one that can have many different flavours and complex tastes. For those that still have not tried it, there is nothing quite like hot, toasted sourdough and butter.”
One of Tesco’s leading sourdough suppliers is Leicestershire bakery Jason’s Sourdough, which in recent years has become the fourth biggest bread brand in the country and the UK’s number one dedicated sourdough brand.
Owner Jason Geary has achieved that, offering market-beating value, allowing Tesco to sell Jason’s Sourdough loaves for just GBP two less than half the price of other sourdough loaves.
The strategy for making sourdough more affordable has certainly worked; Geary now sells one million loaves a week.
“Consumers are looking for quality products that taste great and are made with fewer ingredients. Proper sourdough is made with no additives, no preservatives, no yeast, no seed oils, no emulsifiers and no E-numbers,” said Jason Geary, Master Baker and Creator of Jason’s Sourdough.
“Good quality products like Jason’s Sourdough, are also bringing the out-of-home consumption experience in-home – giving consumers the premium, quality offering that they would experience in local bakeries or restaurants and making it affordable and accessible to all through the grocery retailers.”
Among the most popular sourdough own-brand breads at Tesco are Finest White Sourdough, Finest White Seeded Sourdough, and Finest Rye & Spelt Sourdough.
