Why the bread baking trend looks here to stay
Australia’s most sought after bread to bake is surprising, as the trend looks set to become a new national pastime.
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Baking bread looks set to become a new national pastime as demand for key ingredients and appliances soars even as lockdowns lift.
The trend swept Australia during the months of heavy COVID-19 restrictions, but major supermarkets have told News Corp that sales for essential bread-making ingredients remain high, and retailers say demand for breadmakers continues to surge.
Coles told News Corp sales of bread mix products were up by almost 50 per cent across September when compared to last year. Specialty flours were up 30 per cent over the same period, while yeast purchases were 25 per cent higher.
“Coles has seen the biggest spike in demand in Victoria, with flour and baking mix sales up almost 70 per cent in the past month,” a spokesperson said.
“However, baking is still a popular pastime in the remaining states, with an average growth of almost 15 per cent.”
Woolworths confirmed sales in dried yeast, flour, cake mix, bread mix and dried fruit and nuts continue to see double-digit growth.
“We’re also noticing a large volume of traffic to our website as an increasing number of customers look at our recipe collection for inspiration, with searches for bread recipes almost doubling compared to this time last year,” a Woolworths spokesperson said.
Harvey Norman said breadmakers remained in-demand and some franchises were facing low stock levels.
Appliances Online have similarly “experienced over 1500 per cent sales growth on average for breadmakers” over the last quarter.
“We are experiencing great demand and like many retailers, it has been challenging to secure stock, however, we are receiving stock on a consistent basis,” Winning Group and Founder of Appliances online CEO John Winning said.
It comes as Canstar survey data shows that 1.5 million Australians have or had someone in their household bake bread at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The poll of more than 1000 people found that one in three did so to take up a new hobby, while a quarter were looking to save themselves some money.
More than one in 10 surveyed said they had simply got caught up in the trend.
New figures from Australia’s no. 1 food site Taste.com.au show speciality breads also piqued their interest.
Searches and views for quick wheaten bread were up 2964 per cent over March to September when compared to the same period last year, followed by cheese, herb and onion bread rose by 2200 per cent, followed by simple sourdough (900 per cent), no-knead focaccia (544 per cent) and focaccia (496 per cent).
Searches for naan bread were also up 71 per cent and cornbread, Turkish pide and pizza dough were among Taste’s top savoury baking recipes.
But the iconic damper was the site’s No. 1 homemade bread recipe so far this year.
“This perhaps demonstrates not only people’s desire to bake from scratch more this year but also people’s patriotic and sentimental take on food. We’ve seen a lot of Australiana perform well,” Taste.com.au editor in chief, Brodee Myers-Cooke said.
‘IT SEEMED LIKE A NO-BRAINER’
Phoebe Bullen wasn’t much of a bread baker before the coronavirus pandemic, but is now a big fan.
As someone who loved to cook and bake sweet treats, she decided to try her hand at the fad.
“I had plenty of spare time on my hands and it seemed like a no-brainer, so I thought I’d give myself a challenge,” she said.
Ms Bullen said bread-baking brought back pleasant memories of her childhood.
She said she generally baked one sourdough loaf a week and would continue to whenever life returned to normal — although perhaps less frequently.
Because the key ingredients had a long shelf life, she said it makes financial sense too.
‘I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING THAT WOULD OCCUPY MY TIME’
Elina Brunning discovered her love for baking bread during the lockdown.
She was churning out roughly two loaves a week at the height of the virus clampdown and now makes one each weekend.
She said sourdough was her bread of choice.
“Prior to the pandemic baking sourdough bread was something I always wanted to try but never had the time,” she said.
“There was a lot of uncertainty at the time and I thought I might end up without a job or reduced hours, so I wanted to do something that would occupy my time.”
The 31-year-old said it was the challenge of baking sourdough bread that she enjoyed the most.
“You can never expect a perfect result and I’m always trying to improve something on my next attempt,” she said.
“I also enjoy baking for other people, not so much myself, and that’s what keeps me going.”