Cheese and Sourdough

Why is cheese and sourdough such a great combo?

If you have enjoyed artisan cheese toasties or high quality Italian pizza over the past few years, you will most likely have been exposed to the combination of sourdough and cheese. It really has become all the craze, but is there anything to back up why it’s so great?

Sourdough and cheese actually share very similar traits, given that sourdough is a naturally leavened bread, using a ‘starter’ to rise. This starter is the secret to the quality and flavour profile of the end product, as it is a fermented flour and water mixture that contains wild yeast and good bacteria, the combination and characteristics of which are unique. This style of making cheese, and the use of fermentation produces the tangy texture so synonymous with sourdough.

Sourdough is also characteristically lower in processed additives, making it a far more ‘clean’, natural product when compared to many other breads, certainly those that are commercially made.

So, onto cheese. And you are probably thinking, all the above sounds familiar!

Cheese of course is fermented milk, the process of which is also kick started by using starter cultures – these help to manage acidity through the metabolization of the lactose in the milk by lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus). This conversion of liquid milk to solids (ie cheese) also provides tangy flavours (as well as many others of course).

So in many ways, sourdough and cheese are incredibly similar, certainly in terms of the methods of production. Bread and cheese more generally of course have history. The oldest AOC cheese in the world, Roquefort, historically used bread to cultivate the blue moulds that then were introduced to the white cheese to produce the classic blue veining we know and love in Roquefort.

So we have two fermented products in sourdough and cheese, the use of ‘cultures’ and a tangy flavour profile. That tangy, slightly bitter profile of sourdough works so beautifully alongside the tanginess in cheese, but also balances the creaminess and richness, making them beautiful partners. The squishier and less ‘crumbly/ texture of sourdough also lends itself perfectly for the texture of melted cheese.

So, it really is a match made in heaven. Which is why we have decided to launch a partner product during the last week of May that really brings this combination to life in a way never before seen….watch this space for a full announcement soon! You’ll be the first to know of course.