When I was offered the opportunity to sample one of the UK’s favourite bakery’s take on sourdough, I did not need any persuading.
I love bread, of all types, so it was an interesting test of Jacksons of Yorkshire’s latest bakes to engage in. Jacksons is a brand seen on the shelves of the nation’s biggest supermarkets and I did wonder if such an industry giant could have come up with a bake to rival those delicious (and a bit pricey) loaves you can buy from artisan bakeries.
Because of the price tag (and the amount of bread we get through), sourdough tends to be more of a treat in our house – we also enjoy it sometimes when we’re eating out – and more standard loaves land more frequently in our bread bin. For the uninitiated, sourdough is naturally leavened bread, which means it does not use commercial yeast to rise, the process instead adopting a “starter” – a fermented flour and water mixture that contains wild yeast and good bacteria – to make the dough rise.
It is this that also produces the tangy taste and slightly chewy texture that are the characteristics of sourdough. What Jacksons has expanded its Derringham Street base in Hull to create is its Signature Sourdough loaves, a Sliced White Bloomer and Sliced Seeded Bloomer.
The former, with an identifying blue flash on the packaging, is labelled as “perfect for sandwiches”; “delicious as toast” and offers a “mild sourdough flavour”, according to its wrapper. It also tells the consumer the bread is “crafted with just four types of ingredients, using our own blend of premium flours and a specially selected Belgian sourdough starter”.
Reading further, the bloomer is described as “slowly fermented, free from artificial preservatives, has no added sugar or palm oil and is a source of protein”.
Me and my other half first put it to the test for sandwiches of leftover Sunday dinner chicken. Opening the packet, there was a light, “bready” aroma and the slices were of a good, even bake with a golden crust and compact crumb texture.
It married with the chicken, some sage and onion stuffing and our buttery spread very well, with the crusts good and chewy but not so much as to be a workout for our jaws. We both decided it had the slightest hallmark-of-sourdough tang and would make the ideal base for anything sweet or savoury, with its light flavour.
Moving over to the Sliced Seeded Bloomer (a multiseed white bread with a purple flash marking it out on the wrapper) this has many of the attributes of the white sourdough but with the addition of a mix of millet, poppy seeds, golden and brown linseeds – this one is also a source of fibre.
Opening this bread, there was a strong “nutty” smell of the linseeds that was appetising. The loaf has altogether more flavour and is soft but sturdy enough to hold its filling (more of the chicken) and a generously seeded crust.
The day-old loaves were then tested at breakfast. Both the white and seeded sourdough made for perfect toast (we like ours light-to-golden) that still provided some crunch, even when loaded with spread, blackcurrant jam and home-made lemon curd, and not a soggy slice in sight.
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