2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the annual, international Sourdough September.
The ninth month of the year is when the Real Bread Campaign goes on a mission to help everyone worldwide to discover that: life’s sweeter with sourdough!
Ahead of Sourdough September, the Real Bread Campaign sent the following to Mark Spencer, Minister of State for Food, Farming and Fisheries:
Dear Mark,
While we thank you for the length and detail of your 24 July 2023 response to our letter of 17 May 2023, we are deeply disappointed by the content of it.
We believe it shows your department’s and government’s total lack of support for thousands of SME bakery businesses across the UK, their employees, and potentially millions of shoppers who want or even need to know that they are getting what they think they’re paying for…Sustain
For 12 months of the year, the Campaign promotes Real Bread in general, with September being a focal point for sourdough in particular.
Sourdough September is run as an opportunity for genuine sourdough bakers and baking teachers to showcase what they do.
It’s also time to shout louder than usual ‘say no to sourfaux‘ to alert people to this problem and help them avoid paying a premium for something that simply isn’t the real deal.
What’s going on?
Across thirty days of sharing food, facts and fun, Real Bread bakeries, baking schools, mills, food festivals and other fermentalists around the globe run sourdough classes, tastings, feasts and more to help everyone experience and enjoy the power of sour.
Something we’d love to see this year in particular is bakers sharing their love of sourdough bread making with children. One way to do is guiding kids in nurturing a sourdough starter from just flour and water, perhaps adding fun by calling the living thing they create a dough monster.
If you don’t have a child or two knocking about at home, you could contact a local school or community group to see if they want to work with you on this.
We’ve created a one-page guide you can print and handout.
.We’re encouraging bakeries to consider trying out ways of subsidising at least one line of sourdough bread to offer it at a reduced price, or issuing discount vouchers to allow customers to choose. Read about how your bakery can get involved.
Sourdough bread is made by people of almost every age, nationality, ethnicity, gender identity, (dis)ability, religion and culture in the world.
Sourdough bread is made by people of almost every age, nationality, ethnicity, gender identity, (dis)ability, religion and culture in the world.
YOU can join the fun with many thousands of people around the planet by tagging your (relevant) social media posts with #sourdough, #SourdoughSeptember and us:
Twitter: @RealBread
Facebook: @RealBreadCampaign
Instagram: @RealBreadCampaign
Then, if applicable, add:
#SourdoughSelfie if it’s a photo of yourself making sourdough, or holding a loaf of genuine sourdough bread you’ve baked or bought from a Real Bread bakery. Remember, as it’s a selfie, we want to see YOU in these photos, not just your crumb shots!
#WeAreRealBread if you are one of the people behind the rise of Real Bread. Whether farmer, miller, baker or baking teacher, please help the world see you to help celebrate the diversity (in all senses) of our supporters and other companions.
If you’d be happy for us to publish your photos (either of yourself or of others with their permission) please email them to realbread@sustainweb.org
We need high resolution photos that are:
- Landscape / horizontal (rather than portrait / vertical) at least 1200 x 800 pixels (see articles in our news and features pages to see what we mean) OR
- Square at least 1000 x 1000 pixels
…and we’d love to see and share photos of whole Real Bread bakery teams, famlies baking together, online and real world classes of sourdough students…
The simplest way to join in is to bake a loaf of genuine sourdough yourself, or buy one from a local, independent, Real Bread bakery.
Business owners
How might YOU help share sourdough secrets and demystify the delicious delights of the oldest way of raising a loaf?
Ideas for events/activities you can organise include:
- Give away (or make a small charge for) pots of sourdough starter
- Showcase a different sourdough bread on your menu each week and offer tasters
- Run a sourdough baking class or Q&A / troubleshooting session
- Organise a social event for people who’ve attended one of your sourdough baking classes in the past
- Join forces with a local brewer, charcutier, pickler and cheese maker to: run a feast of fermentation, create a local food box for people to order online, or lay a fermented food trail between your shops
Source: Sustain
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