Panera Bread is a popular bakery-cafe chain that serves a variety of baked goods, sandwiches, salads, and more. One of their most popular menu items is their fresh-baked bagels. Panera offers several bagel flavors, including plain, cinnamon crunch, blueberry, and asiago cheese. With their prominence on the menu, many customers wonder – are Panera’s bagels made from sourdough?
The Origins of Panera’s Bagels
To understand if Panera’s bagels are made from sourdough, it helps to look at the origins and history of their bagels. Panera Bread was founded in 1981 under the name St. Louis Bread Company. The first location was a single bakery-cafe in Kirkwood, Missouri. In the beginning, the St. Louis Bread Company was modeled after traditional bakeries, making a variety of artisan breads, pastries, and bagels.
In the early 1990s, the St. Louis Bread Company began expanding outside of Missouri, opening locations across the Midwest, South, and Western United States. As they expanded, they rebranded as Panera Bread in 1997. Panera aimed to bring artisan bread and baked goods to more communities across the country.
Even as Panera expanded into a national chain, they maintained a commitment to traditional breadmaking methods. Their bagels continue to be hand-rolled and kettle-boiled, adhering to the authentic techniques used by bakeries for generations. This dedication to tradition has led many to speculate that Panera’s bagels are based on a sourdough starter.
The Sourdough Starter
Sourdough bread and bagels are made using a live fermented culture known as a sourdough starter. This starter is composed of a mixture of flour and water that naturally cultivates wild yeasts and bacteria. The sourdough starter ferments the dough, giving it its distinct tangy sour flavor and light airy texture.
Traditional sourdough starters are maintained over long periods of time, sometimes even passed down through generations of bakers. The lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in the starter help give sourdough bread its signature chewy crumb and crust. Proper fermentation also allows the bread to last longer without spoiling.
Maintaining a sourdough starter requires patience and care. The starter must be “fed” fresh flour and water regularly to keep it active. The ideal temperature and environment must be maintained as well. Dedicated bakers often treat their sourdough starter like a pet or family heirloom.
The Sourdough Fermentation Process
Creating authentic sourdough bread and bagels requires a multi-stage fermentation process. First, the mature sourdough starter is combined with the dough ingredients – flour, water, salt, etc. This initial mixture is allowed to bulk ferment for several hours, allowing the wild yeasts to leaven the dough.
After this first rise, the dough is divided and pre-shaped. Pre-shaping creates surface tension and structure before the final shaping. For bagels, the dough is rolled into rings at this stage.
Next, the shaped dough goes through a final proofing for 1-2 hours. This allows the sourdough culture to further ferment and aerate the interior crumb. The longer final proof results in more complex sourdough flavor.
Finally, the proofed dough is ready to be boiled and baked. Boiling sets the crust and creates the signature chewy texture of a quality bagel. Baking provides the perfect amount of color and crustiness. The result is an authentic sourdough bagel with complex flavor and artisan quality.
Clues Pointing to Sourdough at Panera
Panera has not explicitly confirmed whether their bagels are made with a traditional sourdough starter. However, a few signs point towards the likely use of sourdough in their production process:
- Handcrafted technique – As mentioned earlier, Panera bagels are kettle-boiled and hand-rolled according to traditional methods. This artisan process would pair well with a natural sourdough fermentation.
- Longer fermentation – In various interviews over the years, Panera bakers have made reference to the extended fermentation time for their bagel dough. The bulk ferment takes 5-6 hours. This lengthy ferment provides enough time for sourdough cultures to properly leaven the dough.
- Complex flavor – Customer reviews of Panera bagels often mention the complex, tangy flavor. The nuanced taste is a hallmark of the natural fermentation and acids produced by a sourdough starter.
- Chewy interior – The chewy, holey interior crumb of Panera bagels also points to the likelihood of sourdough fermentation. Longproofing allows the gluten strands to fully develop.
While not conclusive, these clues suggest Panera utilizes sourdough starters for their bagel production. The artisan process would pair well with the depth of flavor created through natural sourdough fermentation.
Statements from Panera on their Bagel Process
Though they have not openly confirmed the use of sourdough starters, Panera has provided some insight into their bagel baking process over the years. Here are a few official company statements that offer clues:
- “We’re proud to bake our bagels fresh each morning from dough that’s never-ever frozen.” -Panera Bread website
- “Whilelarger bakeries start to depend more on automation, Panera still makes all of its bagels by hand.” – Panera VP Dan Kish in 2018 interview
- “Our bakers…shape the dough rings by hand, kettle boil them just right, and perfectly score them.” – Panera’s head baker Tom Gumpel in a 2017 interview
- “We allow our bagel dough to ferment approximately 5-6 hours.” – Panera customer service representative via email
While they do not directly confirm sourdough, this insight into the steps of Panera’s bagel process aligns with traditional artisan methods utilizing natural starters. The references to handcrafting, extended fermentation, and kettle boiling all point in the sourdough direction.
Ingredients Listed on Panera’s Website
Analyzing the published ingredients for Panera bagels provides more clues into their potential use of sourdough:
| Panera Bagel Flavor | Listed Ingredients |
|---|---|
| Plain | Unbleached enriched wheat flour (flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, sugar, yeast, salt, malt syrup (from corn), dough conditioner (wheat flour, ascorbic acid, enzymes). |
| Cinnamon Crunch | Unbleached enriched wheat flour (flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, brown sugar, yeast, salt, malt syrup (from corn), dough conditioner (wheat flour, ascorbic acid, enzymes), cinnamon. |
| Blueberry | Unbleached enriched wheat flour (flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, wild blueberries, brown sugar, yeast, salt, malt syrup (from corn), dough conditioner (wheat flour, ascorbic acid, enzymes). |
| Asiago Cheese | Unbleached enriched wheat flour (flour, malted barley flour, niacin, red iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, asiago cheese (pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes), yeast, sugar, salt, dough conditioner (wheat flour, ascorbic acid, enzymes), malt. |
The common ingredient across all of Panera’s bagel varieties is a “dough conditioner” consisting of wheat flour, ascorbic acid, and enzymes. This proprietary blend likely contains the sourdough starter that gives Panera’s bagels their distinctive texture and flavor.
Enzymes are a key component of sourdough starters, as the wild yeasts and bacteria produce various enzymes that break down gluten strands and ferment the dough. The ascorbic acid helps strengthen and develop the gluten. Together, these ingredients enable proper sourdough fermentation.
Comparisons to Confirmed Sourdough Bagels
It can also be illuminating to compare Panera’s ingredients and process to confirmed sourdough bagels from other established bakeries. Here is how they stack up against two popular sourdough bagel producers:
| Bakery | Sourdough Confirmation | Ingredients | Ferment Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Panera | Unconfirmed, but likely | Enriched wheat flour, water, sugar, yeast, salt, malt, dough conditioner | 5-6 hours |
| Russ & Daughters, NYC | Confirmed | Wheat flour, water, sourdough starter, salt, barley malt | 16-18 hours |
| Dave’s Killer Bread | Confirmed | Organic wheat flour, water, organic sourdough, wheat gluten, salt | 3-5 hours |
While the ingredients vary slightly, Panera’s mystery “dough conditioner” likely serves the same role as the listed sourdough starters at other bakeries. And Panera’s extended 5-6 hour ferment provides enough time for sourdough to properly develop.
Conclusion
Though Panera has not explicitly stated it, the available information points strongly to their bagels utilizing traditional sourdough starters during the baking process. Details of their ingredients, technique, fermentation time, and finished texture all align with quality sourdough bagel production. The company likely wants to keep the exact details proprietary while still ensuring customers they adhere to artisan methods.
Without an outright confirmation from Panera, we can’t know 100% if their bagels are truly sourdough. But the circumstantial evidence gives sourdough-loving customers good reason to believe that original flavor is at the heart of Panera’s beloved bagels.