The sourfaux scandal: what is actually in your supermarket sourdough?

Name: The sourfaux scandal.

Age: Fresh from the oven.

Appearance: A loaf in sheep’s clothing.

Please, don’t mention sourdough. I’m getting lockdown flashbacks. Would you prefer it if I said “Crusty Wheat and Rye Bloomer” instead?

Why? Is that another term for sourdough? Absolutely not! How dare you insinuate that? Sourdough is sourdough, and only proper sourdough should be called sourdough, or else by God there’ll be hell to pay.

So that’s a no? Go to Lidl right now. Find the bakery, and look at the Crusty Wheat and Rye Bloomer. Does that look like a sourdough to you? No. No, it definitely doesn’t.

Wait, didn’t Lidl used to sell a Sourdough Rye Crusty Bloomer? I used to enjoy that. No, you didn’t, because it wasn’t actually a sourdough at all.

But the label said … This is the crux of the issue. Lidl used to sell a product called the Sourdough Rye Crusty Bloomer. But guess what?

What? It was made with baker’s yeast.

That’s fine. It is not fine! You don’t use baker’s yeast in a sourdough – everyone knows that. You make it with a thick, bubbling, ancient starter and nothing else. You start putting baker’s yeast in there and you make a mockery of the entire concept of sourdough.

Wow, you’re being really emphatic about this. Not just me. The fine and brave warriors of the Real Bread Campaign have been hounding Lidl about its “sourdough” for a while now, and it was only by taking the issue to Trading Standards that they were able to get the bread renamed.

Good for them. And now the campaign is trying to eradicate the practice altogether, urging the next government to implement a law that forces bakeries to list the ingredients on all unwrapped bread products, with any sourdough bread that is found to contain baker’s yeast to be renamed “sourdough flavour”.

Well, this certainly seems like the most important problem to focus on at the moment. It may seem trivial to you, but people equate the word “sourdough” with a higher level of quality. If supermarkets are raising the price of bread on the promise that it’s sourdough, don’t consumers have the right to know if that isn’t really the case?

Sure. Another victory for bread!

So what happened to the Lidl Sourdough Rye Crusty Bloomer? It’s still for sale, but now it’s called the Crusty Wheat and Rye Bloomer. Why?

Because it was delicious. I want to go and buy one. This may have backfired.

Do say: “Sourdough is only sourdough if it’s made without yeast.”

Don’t say: “And also if it costs about £12 a loaf and is too hard to chew.”