The story of Stir's sourdough culture

Say that three times fast!

We're a bit of a BNAC (Big Name Around Cambridge) when it comes to sourdough, and all for a good reason. It's Sourdough September, so we thought it was about time we introduced you properly to the special starter that's at the heart of each of our award-winning loaves.

Meet Susan

Ours has a name, an age, and as our bakery staff will tell you - a personality. Susan the starter is nine years old, and she's been part of the Stir family since we first opened our doors on Chesterton Road. She's fed the same way, at the same time, every single day since, by whoever's on the early bakery shift.

She's also, by common agreement among the bakers, a diva. Susan does not like extremes, too warm and she'll ferment too fast and turn sour and sluggish; too cold and she'll barely wake up at all. Keeping her happy means watching the temperature of the bakery, all year round.

The move that nearly broke her

The closest we've come to losing her was the day we moved bakery sites from our Chesterton Road bakery to our current bakery site near Cambridge North. Moving all of our kit wasn't fun, but a living culture that's temperature-sensitive and needs feeding on schedule is a different problem entirely. Susan spent the move refrigerated and carefully wrapped, ferried across Cambridge like the most fragile, least replaceable piece of equipment we owned, well...because she was!

But thank god she made it.

So next time you pick up a loaf from us, spare a thought for Susan, our nine year old, mildly dramatic starter that's in every sourdough loaf that's ever come out of our bakery.

Celebrate properly-made bread for Sourdough September with our new Second Chance Sourdough. 

Made by re-fermenting a small amount of bread that returns to Stir Bakery at the end of service each day. It helps us reduce waste and creates a loaf with an even deeper, more developed sourdough flavour. Pop into your local Stir or Marvin's and try one!