Donegal bakery launches new sourdough bread range

The launch of the Gallagher’s Bakehouse range brings innovation to a €518m bakery category which has seen little growth in recent years.

Gallagher’s Bakehouse new sourdough bread range features a unique, lighter sourdough flavour well-suited to everyday consumption. These breads are prepared using traditional baking methods, including a sourdough starter which is allowed to ferment for 12 hours.

The improved new recipes, products, new packaging and a new identity will replace Gallagher’s existing range while retaining and leveraging the 52-year-old brand’s heritage.

The Ardara-based business, which employs more than 300 people, is changing its brand positioning and offering in line with consumer demand for tastier, more nutritious products which contribute to a healthier lifestyle. The new products deliver on health benefits – such as being a good source of/high in fibre which is good for gut health– with one of the products high in Vitamin D3 which is important for building and keeping strong bones. Sourdough is generally rich in prebiotics, which complement good gut health and enhance the body’s ability to absorb vitamins and minerals.

Patrick O’Sullivan, CEO at Gallagher’s Bakery, believes the sliced pan market has become stagnant and that the new Gallagher’s Bakehouse range represents an opportunity to kickstart category growth with a healthier, tastier range of products that meet a specific, growing consumer demand.

Mr O’Sullivan said: “Sourdough – with its health benefits – has been growing in popularity generally in recent years, and the lockdowns of 2020 have seen it becoming particularly ‘on-trend’. We’ve put it at the heart of our new range, which we hope will change the way people think about bread.

“There is no reason at all why a packaged, sliced pan can’t taste great and have a light and fluffy texture. Our bakers have perfected a specific mild sourdough flavour and combined it with a traditional slow baking approach which allows the sourdough to ferment for 12 hours. The result is simply bread made better – a lighter, softer bread that tastes great and which, even when toasted, retains its softness, shape and bounce.”

The new Gallagher’s Bakehouse range consists of sliced family-sized and smaller-sized Rustic White, Wholemeal and Multigrain family pans, bloomers, baps, gourmet brioche burger buns, and a new handcrafted healthy range of Digestive Boost, Vitamin Boost, and Spelt & Oats loaves. The full range is on shelf in shops now.