Jason Geary has his mother confined in a secure, climate-regulated chamber. She resides in an enormous enclosure weighing around four tons when stationary. vat And is given a rigorous regimen of flour and water every four hours.
He joyfully points out that she is approximately 45 years old and goes by the name 'Sidney'.
Of course, he is referring to his 'mother' dough – the sourdough starter that serves as the lifeblood of his 119-year-old family bakery in Leicestershire.
Or should that be grandfather dough as Sidney is named after Jason's late Grandpa, the man from whom he learned his craft, and it is something to behold.
Volcano-like, it's an oozing, sticky mass of beige-coloured bubbles that seem to be trying to escape the cavernous container holding it all in.
Every day, Jason and his team put aside 'enough to fill four family cars' – which they then combine with dough to kick-start fermentation for the next batch of bread. 'It's like a real-life Tamagotchi,' says Jason, 53, with a grin. 'Remember them? You have to feed it and really look after it, give it some love.
'If you don't, it won't make the right bacteria, which would be a disaster for the bread.'
You may not have heard of Jason, or indeed his mother dough, but you'll certainly know his bread: one million loaves of it are sold in supermarkets up and down the country every week.
Within a few short years, Jason's Sourdough has become the fourth-biggest brand in the nation, after Warburtons, Hovis and Kingsmill.
But this is no lowly loaf. Such is the hysteria, it's become something of a bread-lovers' obsession – and a status symbol in middle class pantries.
On TikTok, videos abound of empty supermarket shelves, as fans bemoan the bread – which comes in seven varieties – regularly selling out. Some admit to bulk-buying it when they find it in stock and freezing it, so they never run short.
So what makes Jason's Sourdough so special?
At £2 a pop, it's a far cry from the artisan breads sold at independent bakeries, with their hole-studded fluffy centres and golden crusts, which retail for between £4 and – if you want a 2kg sourdough from Gail's bakery in London – £13 apiece.
Nor could it ever be classified as 'sourfaux'; the name given to budget sourdough breads commonly found in supermarkets, which use artificial yeast, preservatives and sugar to extend shelf life. Rather, Jason is making proper sourdough for the masses: using three basic ingredients to achieve the same tangy flavour but on a much bigger, more accessible scale.
'My objective was to get a small percentage of the British public moved from everyday bread, full of chemicals and additives, over to proper sourdough,' he says.
'I wanted to create sourdough for every day; not just for the odd occasion, an evening meal or a weekend treat.'
As Britain's sourdough boom – part of the turning tide against ultra-processed foodstuffs and a return to wholesome, nutritious ingredients – continues apace, it's no surprise to see this speciality bread outselling sandwich loaves.
Sourdough differs from other breads because it uses wild yeast and bacteria – found in the starter – rather than added yeast to make it rise, through a slow, natural process of fermentation.
There are no added ingredients – just flour, water and salt – meaning it's linked with better heart health and blood sugar management, and the live bacteria is said to make it easier to digest.
The UK sourdough market is expected to reach £230million by 2030, with spending rising 10 per cent year-on-year.
The key to marketing it to the masses, however, as Jason discovered, was making slight adjustments to the product. His first challenge was reducing the size of the holes – a result of bubbles of gas during fermentation – found in sourdough bread.
'If you're making toast in the morning and you're spreading butter on it, the last thing you want is for it to drip through on to your trousers or your dress,' he says. 'We tried to minimise those holes by making the bread closer-textured. Some butter might still drip through, but it's not going to ruin your outfit.'
He was also determined his sourdough would be sold sliced – music to the ears of anyone who's ever wrestled a bread knife through a stubborn, unbreachable crust. The crust itself was another focus. With supermarkets requiring a five-day shelf life, Jason's bread has to spend slightly less time in the oven than classic sourdough – making it less likely to dry out, but at the expense of that distinctive outer crunch.
Jason isn't bothered by the tender crust; he mentions this as do many of his fellow enthusiasts who prefer toasting their sourdough. According to him, toasting brings new life to the components involved.
Seeing how big the brand has become, five years after he launched it two weeks before the Covid-19 lockdown, is, he says, 'very surreal'.
Currently, he has 770 employees, including 650 bakers, working at his two - and shortly to be three - multimillion-pound bakeries located in the East Midlands region. His business boasts an annual revenue surpassing £67 million.
However, the Geary family’s ambitions were not initially as lofty. The initial bakery came into existence in 1906 through the efforts of Jason’s great-grandfather, Charles, who established it at their residence in Ratby, a small community close to Leicester. Following him, Jason’s grandfather, Sidney, managed the business before passing the torch to his own son, also named Charles. Raised in the same abode, Jason recalls that baking had been ‘part of the DNA’ within their lineage.
"I would return home from school daily, leave my backpack behind, put on my white clothes, and head over to assist at the bakery." To him, the delight of his trade lies in this transformation. "It has an element of magic and mystery," he confesses.
'Take a collection of components, blend them together, and after many hours, you'll have created something remarkable. That sense of awe still thrills me nowadays.'
In 2005, he assumed the role of Master Baker and, aiming for growth, relocated the family enterprise to a new location in the neighboring area of Barrow upon Soar in 2009.
By 2013, Geary's was making loaves for Aldi and had grown to employ 83 people. In 2017, they invested £15million in a second site in Leicester.
And then, the following year, inspiration struck. 'I felt there was a gap in the market,' he says.
'Sourdough was getting big, but not everyone has the time – or the money – to go to a bakery to get their loaf. I wanted to make it properly, the traditional way, but deliver it at scale.'
The brand quickly grew beyond Jason's 'Straight-Up Sourdough' to rolls, protein-packed bread and the popular 'Ciabattin', a mash-up of ciabatta and sourdough designed to fit in a toaster.
Today, on an industrial estate near Leicester, the bakery is busy.
The process starts with Sidney, which Jason acquired from another baker 15 years ago, when it was already 30 years old.
'The temperature and humidity, and how we ferment the final dough, is one of the secrets of the business,' he says. 'Everybody does it in slightly different ways.'
The procedure concludes once the bread loaves have cooled down, been cut into slices, inspected using automated cameras, and then sent off for packaging.
It's a remarkably smooth operation, and it’s slated for replication at a new £35 million bakery facility in Leicester, where production will double starting next month.
Regarding the person in charge, they enjoy taking the train to London and walking around pastry shops, gathering inspiration.
I'm not only consuming our bread; I purchase various types of sourdough," he explains. "I enjoy talking with fellow bakers, observing their techniques, and understanding their methods.
No matter what unfolds for this family enterprise, it appears destined—much like Jason's supermarket sourdough—to continually grow and prosper.
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