Loaves with beetroot, cheese & chilli, and vegan chocolate are among the specially created items from craft bakers to mark this year’s Sourdough September.
There are also new crackers featuring the most ancient of UK grains, bere barley.
The 12th edition of the month-long event organised by the Real Bread Campaign is once again aimed at promoting the baking and buying of genuine sourdough bread, ie. those produced without use of baker’s yeast, chemical raising agents, so-called processing aids, or other additives.
Check out the latest batch of Sourdough September NPD selling this month:
Beetroot Sourdough, Bake 88
The Epsom-based micro-bakery has unveiled its latest special loaf for September: a Beetroot Sourdough (rsp: £5, 850g). It utilises organic wheat and rye flour from Shipton Mill plus organic beetroot.
Full of antioxidants, the dough is bright pink production. However, as may be fitting for autumn, it turns an earthy brown colour once baked with just a slight blush left in the crust plus purple bits of beet inside.
Bake 88 founder Charlotte Crockford notes that the taste isn’t particularly “beetrooty” either, as people often associate beetroot in vinegar rather than fresh ones. She says she cooks the beets in water with a little lemon juice to help keep the colour and pulps them herself. “It’s an intriguing loaf and a seasonal favourite with my customers,” she adds.
Seeded Sourdough, Bridge Baker
This 48-hour slow fermented sourdough is made with organic flour and is covered with a mix of linseed, sunflower, and sesame seeds.
The Fulham-based business is selling the loaves for £5.50 each at its two stores in Fulham and its brand new site next to Kensington Olympia. They are also available as part of a £9.20 bundle together with Bridge Baker’s Strawberry & Rhubarb Jam, which also received a Great Taste award this year.
Cheese & Chilli Sourdough, Cavan Bakery
The craft bakery chain, which earlier this year opened its 15th shop across Surrey and southwest London, launched a different sourdough loaf in each of the first three weeks of September.
The first was a Cheese & Chilli Sourdough, the second was a Sweet Potato & Rosemary Sourdough, and the third was a Butternut Squash & Sage Sourdough. All were priced at £3.50 each. The best-selling loaf was the Cheese & Chilli Sourdough, which has been brought back to bakery stores for the final week of the month.
Beremeal Sourdough Crackers, Eviedale Bakehouse
Progressing on from its beremeal and beer sourdough loaf last year, Orkneys-based Eviedale Bakehouse has unveiled a range of beremeal sourdough crackers. These are made with organic flours, sourdough starter, olive oil, raw sugar, and sea salt – described as very simple, very nutritious, very delicious, and with a great snap.
Sold in £3.50 packs in flavours of plain, seeded, and chilli, they are said to be perfect for pairing with local Orkney cheese or other dips.
Vegan Chocolate Sourdough, One Mile Bakery Exeter
According to founder Boudicca Woodland, the special edition loaf feels just as special to make as it does to eat. It starts with organic stoneground bread flour, adding organic cocoa powder, water, and salt, before mixing in vegan chocolate drops from her local Zero Waste Stores outlet.
“This loaf has been a real journey for me to develop,” noted Woodland, who delivers her products by bike within a one-mile radius of her kitchen in the St Thomas area of Exeter. “Finding the right balance took time – the cocoa had to enhance the sourdough rather than overwhelm it, and the chocolate drops needed to hold their own through a long, slow fermentation.”
The founder claimed her customers are amazed at how a sourdough (rsp: £5, 800g) can be “both rich and wholesome, comforting and sophisticated”. It can be toasted and topped with nut nutter, enjoyed as an afternoon treat with coffee, or simply torn apart and scoffed warm, she added.
Vintage Cheddar, Jalapeño, and N’duja Loaf, Sourdough Dave
Matlock-based Sourdough Dave has also embraced a run of rotating new loaves for Sourdough September. The Vintage Cheddar, Jalapeño, and N’duja Loaf (rsp: £4.25, 700g) is first in the month’s line-up followed by a Black Pepper & Grana Padano Loaf and then a Chipotle, Black Onion Seed and Turmeric Malthouse Loaf.
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