Grateful Bread: The Most Authentic Sourdough in the Bread Aisle

To say that people love bread is an understatement. You can find some form of bread in just about every culture. It comes in thousands of varieties and is made in thousands of different ways. It’s no surprise, then, that the bread aisle of a grocery store can be somewhat daunting. 

White, wheat, French, oat, potato, pita, keto, rye…the list goes on and on—and many of those options are mass-produced and full of ingredients that you’d rather not try to pronounce.

That’s why we love Grateful Bread. It’s a 30-plus-year-old bakery with simplicity and authenticity at its heart. If you’re looking for a high-quality sourdough bread to take home to your family, look no further.

Grateful Bread: A History

Joe and Dianna Artim first opened their bakery as a Great Harvest Bread Co. franchise in 1990. Seven years later, they went independent and re-named their business Grateful Bread (after their Deadhead son’s favorite band, The Grateful Dead). 

The husband and wife duo had a passion for breadmaking and wanted to bring authentic sourdough bread to Sacramento. As the Artim family grew, their children, Theresa, Matt, and Mike, took an interest in the company. With their help, Grateful Bread expanded to service numerous wholesale accounts and provide fresh bread for local fine dining restaurants and farmers’ markets.

After 27+ years of baking, Joe decided to retire from the company to spend more time with his family (and on the golf course). He didn’t want the company to fall into just anyone’s hands, however. It was important that the famous authenticity of Grateful Bread continue.

Luckily, prospective buyers and industry leaders Dave Pringle and Sonny Mayugba came along. Dave and Sonny were as passionate about artisanal bread as they were about expanding the business. In 2017, they acquired the company, which continues to grow to this day. 

What makes Grateful Bread Special

There’s a reason that Grateful Bread has withstood the test of time. It’s the most authentically-crafted sourdough bread available in supermarkets. The Artim’s desire to bake and share unforgettable bread shines through in both the ingredients and the baking process. 

What’s in Grateful Bread’s sourdough?

Grateful Bread sourdough starts with a 32-year-old mother culture. The living microbes in the mother culture digest sugars in bread dough, making acids and carbon dioxide as a byproduct—which is how sourdough gets its name and can rise without needing a leavening agent like yeast or eggs. Many other “sourdough” brands you find in the supermarket today rely on commercial yeast and flavoring additives to mimic the taste and texture of real sourdough.

Grateful Bread’s bakers mix a small amount of mother culture into their base dough mixture—usually a blend of artisanal white and whole grain flours, water, canola oil, salt, and natural mold inhibitors like distilled white vinegar and organic bred-mate (an acidic fermented wheat product).

How is Grateful Bread sourdough made?

After the mother culture is introduced to the flour mixture, the dough ferments for several days. During that time, the bacteria from the original culture gets to work digesting starches, releasing acetic acid (giving sourdough a vinegar-like bite), and lactic acid (imparting more of a yogurty tang), as well as structure-building bubbles of carbon dioxide.

Once fermented, the bread is more nutritious, easier to digest, and has a rich flavor that you can’t convincingly fake with additives. The methodological process for making Grateful Bread’s high-quality sourdough, from introducing the starter to coming out of the oven, takes three days. Freshly baked loaves are then distributed to retailers, restaurants, and markets all over Northern California.