Costco's Sourdough Bread Bowls Have The Baking Community Up In Arms

It's a day that ends in "Y," so of course, there's another video floating around social media showcasing a Costco find for folks to pine after. In this case, it's a four-pack of sourdough bread bowls weighing in at nearly two pounds for $7.99 — there's nothing particularly notable about that. However, some super sleuths feel like the ingredients on the package don't make sense. At least, not if shoppers are to believe that the Costco bakery drop is genuine sourdough.

Personally, I thought soup in a bread bowl was more of a winter thing, but that's not what has some folks in the video's comment section crying foul. Most of the people voicing their opinions about Costco's bread bowls are noting that the list of ingredients is too long for the product to be a true sourdough. "With all those ingredients, it's not sourdough bread!!" one person said. Another person was more specific about what they expect in a sourdough, saying, "That's not sourdough, sourdough is only supposed to have flour, water, and salt. Nothing else." The complaints may be an instance of how people can be right and wrong at the same time. Despite listing more than three ingredients on the package, Costco may still be selling the real deal.

It's true that sourdough bread is an incredibly simple sandwich staple consisting of minimal ingredients. Making a sourdough starter from scratch only requires water and wheat flour (though some folks recommend using rye flour for the quickest sourdough starter). Natural yeasts and bacteria in the flour and environment encourage the starter to grow if it is regularly fed and kept in amicable conditions. It can take a few days for it to develop that signature tangy flavor, which is why sourdough tastes different than other breads.

At first glance, some ingredients look out of place on Costco's sourdough bread bowls, but they aren't all that nefarious. Many of the listed elements are just what makes up the enriched wheat flour the discount warehouse uses to bake them — like niacin, iron, and folic acid. Some of the other components that are causing such a commotion for Costco patrons may simply be ingredients commonly used by commercial bakers to accelerate the process of making sourdough so the store can provide it to the masses quickly. It doesn't inherently mean it's not sourdough — it's just a slightly more complicated recipe than folks are used to seeing.