Sourdough is established as a growing, enduring trend. It is successfully transitioning from its staple applications in bread to innovation in other product ranges, savory and sweet.
Sourdough is gaining ground as a popular choice worldwide, with an increasing range of product offerings. While it might be a presence expected to belong in the bread and savory category because of its flavor profile, sourdough also drives product innovation in sweet bakery goods. As global consumers get more accustomed to the flavor of sourdough, it is gaining popularity and becoming an emerging trend in sweet baked goods as well. Here, the biggest challenge lies in “Finding the right balance between the acidity, the sour notes of the sourdough with the sweetness of the pastry and getting the right flavor combinations on fillings and decorations,” explained Joana Ventura, Category Marketing Manager Dry, Europe & AMEAP, Dawn Foods.
Among the consumer trends that Dawn Foods has been observing over the past few years, a taste for experimenting was identified, which the company called ‘Mashup adventure’, characterized by consumers looking more and more for cross-cultural flavors, surprising combinations and twists that allow people to be adventurous and have a unique sensory experience. The cronut has opened the door to R&D for hybrid creations, and now sourdough is added into the mix for more innovation. The ingredient specialist has been developing solutions to support this trend. “This was, in combination with the rising popularity of sourdough, the reason behind the development of our Dawn Exceptional® Sourdoughnut Mix. It is a mashup between Yeast Raised and Sourdough that combines everything consumers love about sourdough bread and donuts,” Ventura illustrates.
Sweet sourdough? Yes, please
Not all sourdoughs are the same, and choosing the right one can make all the difference in the flavor and taste of the final product, depending on the type of goods under development. Each sourdough starter is a unique blend of different strains of yeasts and bacteria, resulting in a lot of different flavor profiles – all strong, aromatic and sour, with a big influence on the overall flavor profile of the application. In addition, “It is important to realize that sourdough is a fermentation process. The sourdough starter technically breaks down the flour, impacting the properties of the dough. Because of those dough properties and strong flavor profiles, it is still more common in savory and bread offerings, than it is in sweet bakery,” explains Christoph Rottmann, R&D Center of Excellence Manager Dry, Europe & AMEAP, Dawn Foods.
As a sweet bakery ingredients manufacturer, the company works with sourdough suppliers to find ‘sweeter’ variants that create opportunities in the sweet bakery space. Thanks to its varying properties, sourdough makes it possible to develop new and different texture experiences that consumers seek. For example, Dawn’s Sourdougnut Mix is softer and richer than a traditional yeast-raised donut,” Rottmann illustrates, as one answer to the challenge sourdough poses in balancing the flavor by pairing the acidity of the sourdough with the traditional sweetness of pastry.
© Dawn Foods
The winning recipe
As part of its centennial celebrations last year, Dawn Foods held a Donut Co-creation Contest, to develop a new donut, won by the creation developed with Pastry Chef Mathew Rice. “This sourdough donut combines everything consumers love about sourdough bread and yeast-raised donuts: it has a darker crust color, rustic appearance and open crumb structure while still soft and tender. It has a unique buttery sourdough flavor and a soft, light and airy texture. Compared to the characteristics of a normal donut, the sourdough donut is less sweet, darker and sturdier,” Ventura describes the winning donut that proposes a new sensory experience on all grounds: flavor, appearance and texture.
The R&D team then reverse-engineered the concept, together with Mathew Rice, into a mix. The result was “A mix that is versatile, works in different bakery settings – from artisanal bakers to industrial lines – while maintaining that recognizable sourdough flavor,” Rottmann elaborates. Dawn Foods uses an ‘authentic dried sourdough‘ as an ingredient for this product, which was selected based on the taste profile and on dough characteristics to fit the functional needs, the specialist adds. The mix helps achieve more consistent results, especially so when working with sourdough, as each starter is a unique blend of different strains of yeast and bacteria and would result in significantly different flavor profiles.
The Dawn Exceptional® Sourdoughnut Mix is a versatile choice for consistent results and can be used to create a wide variety of unique, sourdough offerings. Like any new product we bring to the market, we support our customers with inspiration on how to use it and what to create with it.
“Dawn Foods has made several recipes and how-to-videos available, for inspiration on how to use it and what to create with it – all based on the creative ideas from our application chefs in all of our countries, who have extensively tested and tried out the mix before launch,” Ventura adds. The company can provide recommendations depending on the types of applications, combinations with fillings and icings, and local preferences. “Due to the distinctive flavor of the sourdough, the main recommendation is to combine with more neutral-flavored fillings and decorations,” she says.
Source: Dawn Foods
A growing interest
Dawn Foods trend research sees sourdough firmly grounded in consumers’ sweet spot, a trend boosted by repeated lockdowns. This fascination is reflected in the 384% rise in ‘sourdough’ Google searches tracked at the beginning of the pandemic (1). “The food industry took notice of this increased consumer interest, with sourdough new product launches recording an average annual growth of +15% over the past five years (2). From sourdough bite snacks to dark chocolate with sourdough, innovation in this space peaked in 2021 and we expect this growth to continue,” anticipates Sarah Browner, Market Research & insights Manager, Europe & AMEAP.
Bakeries across Europe are looking into new ways to include sourdough in their product offerings. Sourdough donuts allow bakers to tap into this growing trend, as one in two consumers globally are saying, “They have been more adventurous with their food choices” as a result of COVID-19 (1).
