Q: Is there dairy in sourdough bread?
The short answer is that some sourdough breads do have dairy and others do not. We wish we could provide a straight yes or no, but it really depends on the recipe used to make the bread. Read on for more details.
Homemade Sourdough Bread
Most homemade sourdough bread does not have dairy. It is commonly made with a sourdough starter (flour + water), bread flour, salt, and water. We pulled up about 20 sourdough recipes online and only one had dairy (milk) as an ingredient. The good news is that if you want to enjoy a homemade dairy-free sourdough, there are plenty of recipes out there that don’t require dairy as an ingredient.
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Store-Bought Sourdough
You should check the list of ingredients of store-bought sourdough if you are looking to avoid dairy. It is much more common to find dairy in sourdough from the store than in a homemade version. For example, below we have listed the ingredients of two popular brands of sourdough bread: Brownberry and Pepperidge Farm. Both contain whey, the leftover liquid after milk has curdled
Brownberry – Enriched wheat flour, water, yeast, soybean oil, natural flavor, cultured wheat flour, salt, wheat gluten, sugar, grain vinegar, soy lecithin, soy, citric acid, whey.
Pepperidge Farm – Enriched wheat flour (flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, sugar, soybean oil, contains 2% or less of: whole grain rye flour, salt, potato flour, wheat gluten, monoglycerides, lactic acid, sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium propionate and sorbic acid to extend freshness, whey, malted barley flour, citric acid, soy lecithin.
Of course, not all store-bought sourdough bread has dairy. Rudi’s Organic Rocky Mountain Sourdough and Izzio San Francisco Style Sourdough are two example of breads without dairy.
Closing Thoughts
You are likely not going to find dairy in homemade sourdough bread. However, you shouldn’t rule it out as an ingredient. Ask the person who made the bread if dairy was used as an ingredient if it is a concern. Furthermore, you should always read the ingredients of grocery store sourdough if you are looking to avoid dairy. It is not uncommon to find some form of dairy in popular sourdough bread products.
