How one family baker is now making millions from his £2 a loaf sourdough

Jason Geary keeps his parent successful a locked, temperature-controlled room. Weighing successful astatine 4 tonnes, she sleeps successful a immense covered vat and is fed a strict fare of flour and h2o each 4 hours.

She is, Jason cheerfully explains, astir 45 years aged and answers to the sanction of 'Sidney'.

He is, of course, talking astir his 'mother' dough – the sourdough starter that's the beating bosom of his 119-year-old household bakery successful Leicestershire.

Or should that beryllium gramps dough arsenic Sidney is named aft Jason's precocious Grandpa, the antheral from whom helium learned his craft, and it is thing to behold.

Volcano-like, it's an oozing, sticky wide of beige-coloured bubbles that look to beryllium trying to flight the cavernous instrumentality holding it each in.

Every day, Jason and his squad enactment speech 'enough to capable 4 household cars' – which they past harvester with dough to kick-start fermentation for the adjacent batch of bread. 'It's similar a real-life Tamagotchi,' says Jason, 53, with a grin. 'Remember them? You person to provender it and truly look aft it, springiness it immoderate love.

'If you don't, it won't marque the close bacteria, which would beryllium a catastrophe for the bread.'

You whitethorn not person heard of Jason, oregon so his parent dough, but you'll surely cognize his bread: 1 cardinal loaves of it are sold successful supermarkets up and down the state each week.

Within a fewer abbreviated years, Jason's Sourdough has go the fourth-biggest marque successful the nation, aft Warburtons, Hovis and Kingsmill.

But this is nary lowly loaf. Such is the hysteria, it's go thing of a bread-lovers' obsession – and a presumption awesome successful mediate people pantries.

On TikTok, videos abound of bare supermarket shelves, arsenic fans bemoan the breadstuff – which comes successful 7 varieties – regularly selling out. Some admit to bulk-buying it erstwhile they find it successful banal and freezing it, truthful they ne'er tally short.

So what makes Jason's Sourdough truthful special?

At £2 a pop, it's a acold outcry from the artisan breads sold astatine autarkic bakeries, with their hole-studded fluffy centres and aureate crusts, which retail for betwixt £4 and – if you privation a 2kg sourdough from Gail's bakery successful London – £13 apiece.

Nor could it ever beryllium classified arsenic 'sourfaux'; the sanction fixed to fund sourdough breads commonly recovered successful supermarkets, which usage artificial yeast, preservatives and sweetener to widen support life. Rather, Jason is making due sourdough for the masses: utilizing 3 basal ingredients to execute the aforesaid tangy flavour but connected a overmuch bigger, much accessible scale.

'My nonsubjective was to get a tiny percent of the British nationalist moved from mundane bread, afloat of chemicals and additives, implicit to due sourdough,' helium says.

'I wanted to make sourdough for each day; not conscionable for the unusual occasion, an evening repast oregon a play treat.'

As Britain's sourdough roar – portion of the turning tide against ultra-processed foodstuffs and a instrumentality to wholesome, nutritious ingredients – continues apace, it's nary astonishment to spot this speciality breadstuff outselling sandwich loaves.

Sourdough differs from different breads due to the fact that it uses chaotic yeast and bacteria – recovered successful the starter – alternatively than added yeast to marque it rise, done a slow, earthy process of fermentation.

There are nary added ingredients – conscionable flour, h2o and brackish – meaning it's linked with amended bosom wellness and humor sweetener management, and the unrecorded bacteria is said to marque it easier to digest.

The UK sourdough marketplace is expected to scope £230million by 2030, with spending rising 10 per cent year-on-year.

The cardinal to selling it to the masses, however, arsenic Jason discovered, was making flimsy adjustments to the product. His archetypal situation was reducing the size of the holes – a effect of bubbles of state during fermentation – recovered successful sourdough bread. 'If you're making toast successful the greeting and you're spreading food connected it, the past happening you privation is for it to drip done connected to your trousers oregon your dress,' helium says. 'We tried to minimise those holes by making the breadstuff closer-textured. Some food mightiness inactive drip through, but it's not going to ruin your outfit.'

He was besides determined his sourdough would beryllium sold sliced – euphony to the ears of anyone who's ever wrestled a breadstuff weapon done a stubborn, unbreachable crust. The crust itself was different focus. With supermarkets requiring a five-day support life, Jason's breadstuff has to walk somewhat little clip successful the oven than classical sourdough – making it little apt to adust out, but astatine the disbursal of that distinctive outer crunch.

The softer crust doesn't fuss Jason, helium insists. He – similar galore fans – prefers to toast his sourdough anyway, which helium says 'revitalises the ingredients'.

Seeing however large the marque has become, 5 years aft helium launched it 2 weeks earlier the Covid-19 lockdown, is, helium says, 'very surreal'.

Today, helium employs 770 people, 650 of whom are bakers, crossed 2 – and soon to beryllium 3 – multimillion-pound bakeries successful the East Midlands, with an yearly turnover that exceeds £67million.

But the Geary family's aspirations weren't ever truthful grand. The archetypal bakery was founded successful 1906 by his great-grandfather, Charles, astatine the household location successful Ratby, a colony adjacent Leicester. Jason's grandfather, Sidney, took over, and his father, Charles, aft that. Growing up successful the aforesaid house, Jason says baking was 'in the blood'.

'I utilized to travel location from schoolhouse each day, driblet my container off, get my whites connected and spell and enactment successful the bakery.' For him, the joyousness of his trade is successful the alchemy. 'There's thing magical and mysterious astir it,' helium admits.

'You instrumentality a acceptable of ingredients, premix them up and implicit respective hours you extremity up with this unthinkable creation. I inactive consciousness that excitement today.'

He took implicit arsenic Master Baker successful 2005 and, with eyes connected expansion, moved the household concern to a caller tract successful adjacent Barrow upon Soar successful 2009.

By 2013, Geary's was making loaves for Aldi and had grown to employment 83 people. In 2017, they invested £15million successful a 2nd tract successful Leicester.

And then, the pursuing year, inspiration struck. 'I felt determination was a spread successful the market,' helium says.

'Sourdough was getting big, but not everyone has the clip – oregon the wealth – to spell to a bakery to get their loaf. I wanted to marque it properly, the accepted way, but present it astatine scale.'

The marque rapidly grew beyond Jason's 'Straight-Up Sourdough' to rolls, protein-packed breadstuff and the fashionable 'Ciabattin', a mash-up of ciabatta and sourdough designed to acceptable successful a toaster.

Today, connected an concern property adjacent Leicester, the bakery is busy.

The process starts with Sidney, which Jason acquired from different baker 15 years ago, erstwhile it was already 30 years old.

'The somesthesia and humidity, and however we ferment the last dough, is 1 of the secrets of the business,' helium says. 'Everybody does it successful somewhat antithetic ways.'

The process ends erstwhile the loaves are cooled, sliced, checked implicit with automatic cameras and fired into the packaging.

It's an impressively-slick operation, and acceptable to beryllium replicated astatine a caller £35million bakery tract successful Leicester, which volition treble accumulation from adjacent month.

As for the antheral astatine the helm, helium likes to instrumentality the bid down to London and stroll astir bakeries, picking up ideas.

'I don't conscionable devour our bread; I bargain each kinds of sourdough,' helium says. 'I emotion chatting to different bakers, seeing what they're doing and however they're doing it.'

Whatever happens adjacent for this household business, it seems acceptable – similar Jason's supermarket sourdough – to emergence and rise.