Supermarket sourdough bread: everything you need to know

A loaf of artisanal sourdough can easily cost £4 or more – enough to make any shopper wince at the counter. How, then, can supermarkets sell their own ‘sourdough’ for half the price, and are we really buying the same thing? 

It can take up to four days to make a sourdough loaf, but supermarket versions may contain ingredients not found in traditional sourdough bread, which speed up the process.

A closer look at the price per kilogram reveals that supermarket loaves aren't always much better value – it pays to shop around and look at the label for the ingredients. 

We explain the differences and how to make the right choice for you.

What's the difference between sourdough and normal bread?

Traditional sourdough is bread that rises naturally, without added commercial yeast. The bubbles that make it light and chewy come from wild yeasts in the starter, which feed on the flour and release gas.  

It should contain only four ingredients: flour, water, salt and a 'starter'. 

A starter is a mix of flour and water that has been allowed to ferment. This introduces naturally occurring yeast and the lactic acid bacteria to the mix. 

The presence of bacteria creates lactic and acetic acids, which give the bread its sour, tangy flavour.

The starter is then mixed with more flour, water and salt to form a dough. This goes through several stages of resting, stretching and folding before being left to prove in the fridge overnight. The loaf is then baked.

It's a lengthy process that can take 1 to 4 days.

With standard bread, baker's yeast is added to speed up the rising process, allowing a loaf to be made in a few hours.

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Supermarket sourdough vs bakery or homemade

In the UK, sourdough isn’t a legally protected term, so any bread can technically be called sourdough.

So, while traditional sourdough contains only four ingredients, supermarket versions may include additional ingredients.

A few recipes contain added yeast, which speeds up the process. But many supermarkets have improved on this and now use fermented flour (a starter) instead of yeast.

Some supermarket loaves also contain other ingredients not found in traditional sourdough, such as rice and soya flours, as well as vegetable oils or even yoghurt.

Rice flour helps to give the loaf a crunchy outer crust, and soya flour contributes to a better crumb. 

Vegetable oils make the dough easier to handle and extend the bread's shelf life by keeping it moist and soft for longer. Yoghurt will help to relax the gluten, resulting in a soft, fluffy inside.

Another frequently added ingredient to supermarket sourdough is ascorbic acid. This increases the rate of loaf rise and boosts its final volume. 

This means supermarket sourdough can be produced more quickly, using processes closer to those used for standard bread.

In the past, some supermarket sourdoughs have contained vinegar – added to mimic the sour, tangy flavour that naturally develops during the longer fermentation process used for traditional sourdough.

You might still find vinegar used in 'sourdough' products such as sourdough crumpets.

Want to make bread at home? Find out the best bread makers 2026

Why is sourdough expensive?

Traditional sourdough loaves can cost upwards of £4 in a bakery. This is because making sourdough is a time-intensive process. 

Chris Young from the Real Bread Campaign, a project run by the food and farming charity Sustain, told us: 'Crafting genuine sourdough bread is a time and labour-intensive business. There are a number of factors behind what a small, independent bakery needs to charge for genuine sourdough and other Real Bread, which include supporting more jobs per loaf than an industrial loaf factory.' 

A closer look at unit pricing shows that a bakery sourdough loaf might not be as pricey as it looks compared to its supermarket counterpart.

Sourdough loaves from Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco cost between £2 and £2.15 for a 400g loaf, twice as much as a standard farmhouse loaf of the same size (£1).

A waste-less sourdough from the bakery chain Gail's (made with 'porridge' from surplus bread to reduce food waste) is £5 for a 750g loaf, but it is over one-and-a-half times the size of the supermarket loaf. 

Working out the cost gram for gram, you'll pay 47p to 66p per 100g for supermarket sourdoughs. Prices vary depending on whether the loaf is from the 'standard' bakery range or a premium 'Finest' or 'Exceptional', and the like. It will cost you 67p per 100g for the Gail's version.

The Real Bread Campaign calls out loaves labelled 'sourdough' that actually contain additional yeast as 'sourfaux'. Here are some supermarket sourdoughs which meet its criteria for traditional sourdough. These include:

• Bertinet Bakery Rustic Country White Sourdough £2.40, 500g
• Celtic Bakers Multiseed Sourdough £2.95, 500g
• Jason's The Great White Straight Up Sourdough £2.20, 450g
• Waitrose No.1 White Sourdough Bread £2.25, 500g
• Waitrose No.1 Spelt Sourdough Bread £2.50, 500g

What's the best bread? See the results of our sourdough blind-taste test

Is sourdough bread healthy?

Is sourdough bread good for you? Some research suggests that the slower fermentation process of sourdough increases the bioavailability of fibre and minerals in the bread. There's also research showing that sourdough is easier to digest.

However, in terms of calories, fibre, fat, sugar and salt, sourdough isn't that different to normal bread.

There is a theory that freezing bread and then toasting it can lower the Glycaemic Index (GI) by increasing the amount of resistant starch. 

How to make your own: sourdough recipes at home

Making your own sourdough is relatively easy, and you don't need any fancy equipment, just patience, a proving basket and a lidded casserole pot.

If you know someone who makes their own sourdough, you could ask them for a bit of their starter; otherwise, check out the BBC Good Food sourdough starter recipe.

Once you have a starter, you're ready to make your own sourdough bread. You can follow this Jamie Oliver sourdough recipe.

Bread is one of the most wasted foods. Find out the best way to store fresh bread at home