Bread gets a second rise
Introducing our new boomerang sourdough, which is made by incorporating leftover bread into the dough
At Thames Ditton Bakery, we’re on a mission to divert waste. This is not only the right thing to do for the environment, but it also benefits our business. With the rising costs of energy and ingredients, it is more economical and sustainable to make the most of what we have. It’s even more rewarding when our waste-reduction efforts lead to delicious new products, such as our boomerang sourdough bread, named after our friends at Thames Ditton Boomerang Bags and their reduce, reuse, recycle principles.
Waste by the numbers
Food waste is a huge issue. In the UK alone, we throw away an estimated 9.5 million tonnes of food every year, enough to fill Wembley Stadium nine times over. Alarmingly, almost 70% of this discarded food is still edible. Our throwaway culture wastes money – an estimated £19 billion annually – and squanders the resources that go into growing, processing and transporting our food. What’s more, the environmental impact is significant.
When food is left to rot in landfills, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than CO2 and responsible for around a third of the global warming we are experiencing today.
This damaging cycle of take, make and waste has got to stop.
Waste to worth
At the bakery, we avoid waste whenever possible. We typically give away unsold pastries and sweet stuff to customers or local businesses. As for bread, if a loaf doesn’t sell on the day it’s baked, we usually freeze it to lock in the freshness and resell it at half price. However, we’re currently exploring ways to use our surplus products as the basis for new products, transforming what would otherwise go unsold into something of value.
A perfect example is our moreish bread and butter pudding made with leftover morning pastries. And now we’ve taken the concept even further with our boomerang sourdough loaf, inspired by a Scandinavian recipe for rye bread that incorporates day-old bread into the dough.
After much research and experimenting, we’ve developed a formula we’re happy with and think our customers will enjoy. It involves creating a porridge-like mixture using our leftover bread, which we then add to the dough. We allow it to prove overnight like a regular sourdough and bake it the following morning. The resulting bread has a distinctive toastiness. It’s also very light and incredibly moist, which gives it a longer shelf-life.
What’s next?
Our boomerang sourdough is just the beginning. We’re actively developing other ideas for repurposing ingredients that might otherwise go to waste to add value for our customers. Like our friends at Thames Ditton Boomerang Bags, who transform second-hand fabric into beautiful, eco-friendly bags, we aim to turn surplus bread into sustainable new products that taste great.
Our little bakery may be a small cog in the wheel. However, businesses like ours and individuals at home can collectively make a big difference by thinking carefully before throwing food away and focusing on reuse and recycling. Imagine a world with less waste, fewer greenhouse emissions and greater variety and innovation.
