Going on six years after COVID-19 lockdowns first reawakened the world’s interest in baking at home, life has by and large returned to normal.
The sourdough, however, has resisted the return. For many people, it has moved beyond a quarantine project to de facto lifestyle change. And as it has done so, its popularity has not slowed down.
Google Trends showed after the initial frenzy of interest in sourdough in April 2020 passed, the average of number of “sourdough” searches has increased every year.
Joe Whitt, who teaches communication at Wayne State College and is self-admittedly a bit of a sourdough fanatic, said he does not think sourdough will ever go away.
“I think it’s going to continue to get popular before, if at all, it recedes” Whitt said. “That’s just my prediction. I think now the late adopters and the laggards are starting to be sourdough curious and being like ‘Well what’s this?’ or like ‘Maybe I should try it.’”
Market reports confirm what people are seeing: sourdough’s popularity is growing at a substantial rate. According to Up Market Research, the global sourdough market was valued at $2.5 billion in 2019 and was expected to hit $3.5 billion in 2025.
It had already hit $3.3 billion in 2023, according to Grand View Research.
Chris and Jaclyn Beach, owners of H.I.S. Baking Co., said they think sourdough will last because people are yearning for real food.
“People think it's hard to make,” J. Beach said. “It truly isn't. You just have to keep your starter alive, know when it's ready to bake and the technique.”
Alissa McGuire, an FSC major at WSC, said she thinks there will plenty of people who create a sourdough starter and end up throwing it out, but also many people who stick with it.
“I think people realized like ‘Oh, this goes deeper than it just being like a cool, popular trend, like it's something that's worth your time and your efforts because it's actually really good for you, and it's really fun,’” McGuire said. “For me personally, it's not a trend. Making sourdough has always been in my family, like with my grandma and my mom and now me.”
Aedynn Graham, a PR student at WSC, said she loves making sourdough, but thinks some people can go too overboard with it.
“I want to tell people like ‘Oh my gosh, I do sourdough and it's so fun,’ but I think some people are like ‘It's sourdough or nothing, and the whole world is in shambles and sourdough fixes it,’” Graham said. “They’re like ‘Look at how the food industry is and what they're doing to our kids, and so sourdough is fixing that for me and my family, and you should too,’ which like, not completely wrong, but I just think it's unrealistic.”
Graham said she thinks people could find a middle ground that acknowledges not everyone can commit the time it requires to go all in, but also that sourdough can have real benefits.
“It’s not only a more interesting flavor profile, but then it is kind of a more healthy alternative then other store bought or other homemade breads,” Whitt said. “I also like that it makes nutrients more bioavailable for humans.”
“I like the idea of making my own stuff because I enjoy knowing like what I'm putting it to my body and knowing that I'm making the things that I'm eating is just kind of fun to me,” McGuire said.
“We bake with the cleanest flours possible,” J. Beach said. “Having auto-immune issues, I have found that we can eat sourdough without systemic problems. Everybody is different, but there is a reason people go to Italy and eat bread and don’t suffer horrible bloat and gastric distress.”
Whatever the reason people are choosing to make sourdough, the result is the same. Sourdough is not leaving food discussions anytime soon.
“What do you call it when you’ve almost been radicalized by sourdough?” Whitt said. “Because all of a sudden you make a couple loaves, and then it’s like you want to start your own artisanal bakery. You just go all in.”
“We are just super grateful for all the love, we love that people love our sourdough,” J. Beach said. “We give praise to God for being able to make it and provide it.”
