Why sourdough

Why does bakery bread go stale and supermarket bread doesn't?

A loaf from a bakery is past its best in a couple of days. A bag of supermarket white can stay soft for a week or more. Here's what's going on, and why we bake sourdough.

1. What's in the flour

White flour is wheat with the bran and the germ milled away. Those are the parts that hold most of the grain's fibre, and many of its vitamins and minerals. Australian bread flour is fortified with thiamin and folic acid, but the fibre doesn't come back.

2. Why it stays soft for a week

Packaged bread often includes emulsifiers, such as mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E471). They keep the crumb soft and slow down staling, which is how a loaf can sit on a shelf for days.

Researchers in France have been tracking the diets of around 95,000 adults in the NutriNet-Santé study. People who ate more emulsifiers had a higher risk of heart disease (BMJ, 2023). In a follow-up, higher intake of E471 was linked to a higher risk of cancer overall, and of breast and prostate cancer (PLOS Medicine, 2024).

These are associations from observational studies, not proof that emulsifiers cause disease. The researchers themselves say the findings need confirming.

3. Bloating may not be the gluten

Wheat contains fructans, a type of carbohydrate that some people don't absorb well. Gut bacteria ferment them, which can cause bloating and discomfort, especially for people with irritable bowel syndrome.

Most supermarket bread is made with commercial yeast and a short proof, which does little to fructans. In traditional sourdough, the wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria make enzymes that break fructans down, given enough time. Research from Monash University found lower FODMAP levels, mostly fructans, in traditionally fermented sourdough than in standard bread.

Sourdough still contains gluten, so it isn't suitable for people with coeliac disease. Not every loaf sold as sourdough is fermented for long, and sourdough isn't automatically low FODMAP.

4. How we make ours

Our sourdough is naturally leavened and ferments for fermentation time to be confirmed before it goes into the oven. It's a 1,050 g loaf, baked in the shop Wednesday to Sunday.

If you're going to eat bread, we think it should be bread that's had time.

Try a loaf

Pick one up in the Galleria, or order ahead and we'll have it ready.

Order ahead

This page is general information, not medical advice. If bread regularly upsets your stomach, talk to your GP or a dietitian.