Bakery InnovationFrom Lucas
Starting Sourdough September
Let’s start Sourdough September with a new development.
This loaf is built around fibre. The total fibre content comes out above 10g per 100g of baked bread, and the source is oat fibre.
That number is the whole point of the project. Adding fibre to a bread dough is easy; adding it without wrecking the loaf is not. Fibre competes for water, interferes with gluten development and, past a certain point, gives you a dense, tight, slightly heavy loaf that eats like hard work. Getting to double figures and still opening up the crumb you can see in the pictures is where the development time went.
Alongside the fibre we used sweet and dark roasted malt from EDME Ingredients. The dark roast brings the depth of colour through the crumb and a savoury, toasted note behind the sourdough acidity. Together they make the perfect loaf for a cheeseboard — enough character to stand up to a strong cheese, without the sweetness some seeded or malted breads bring.
The sourdough itself is made with this year’s Red Lammas, stone-milled and grown here in the UK.
That matters to me. Red Lammas is a heritage British wheat, and using this year’s harvest, stone-milled, means the loaf carries the character of one crop from one season rather than the consistency of a commodity blend. It also means the whole thing is traceable — the grain, the mill, the bake. For a bakery selling a premium loaf across a counter, that provenance is a story worth being able to tell, and it is increasingly one customers actually ask about.
A loaf with genuine fibre content, a heritage British grain, and a flavour built to sit next to cheese. Not a bad way to open September.
“Adding fibre to a dough is easy. Adding it without wrecking the loaf is the actual work.” — Lucas Fussnegger
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Red Lammas wheat?
Red Lammas is a heritage British wheat variety, grown in England historically and revived in recent years by growers and millers working with older grains. It is valued for its flavour and its connection to a specific harvest and place.
What is oat fibre?
Oat fibre is a concentrated dietary fibre derived from oats. In baking it is used to raise the fibre content of a product, though it affects water absorption and dough handling, which is why recipes need developing around it.
Why is high-fibre bread difficult to make?
Fibre absorbs water and disrupts gluten development, which tends to produce a tighter, denser crumb. Achieving a high fibre content while keeping an open, light loaf takes recipe and process development.
What is stone-milled flour?
Stone milling grinds grain between stones rather than steel rollers, keeping more of the whole grain together and retaining more of its flavour and character.
