Sourdough Bread Benefits: How Healthy It Is?

Is Sourdough Truly Benefit For Our Health

In this Lifestyle article, we will talk about a product whose popularity has increased in the last years. We are talking about one of the best bread in the world, the Sourdough bread.  Many people consider it to be tastier and healthier than conventional bread, some even say that it’s easier to digest and less likely to spike your blood sugar. But with so much information online its difficult to know what is really true. So we decide to take a look at some evidence and write an article about the real Sourdough Bread Benefits.

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What Is Sourdough Bread?

Sourdough is one of the oldest forms of grain fermentation. It’s believed to have originated in ancient Egypt around 1,500 BC and remained the customary form of bread leavening until baker’s yeast replaced it a few centuries ago. In traditional sourdough recipes, you’ll find three ingredients:  sourdough starter (which consists of flour and water), salt and flour.  There is no yeast, no milk, no oils, and no sweeteners.  It’s about as natural as you get when it comes to bread.

Nowadays most leavened bread use commercial baker’s yeast to help the dough rise. However, traditional sourdough fermentation relies on “wild yeast” and lactic acid bacteria that are naturally present in flour. Wild yeast is more resistant to acidic conditions than baker’s yeast. This is what allows it to work together with lactic acid-producing bacteria to help the dough rise.

The combination of the wild yeast, lactic acid bacterias, flour, and water is called “starter“. During the process of bread-making, the starter ferments the sugars in the dough, helping the bread rise and acquire its characteristic taste. Using natural starters will increase drastically the time the dough takes to ferment and rise properly. This extra time is the reason for the particular taste and texture of sourdough bread.

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What Makes Sourdough Special?

For us what makes a sourdough so special is the tang in your mouth every time you take a bite. You can ask anyone who’s eaten sourdough and they’ll tell you the same, the tang is what makes a sourdough so special. This signature tartness of sourdough bread comes from the same bacteria that gives yogurt and sour cream its characteristic flavor.

There is one crucial factor responsible for the signature tartness profile of sourdough bread, the time. Time is essential for the development of the tartness flavor, this process starts when you make the sourdough starter and continuous throughout all process until the bread is ready to go to the oven.

Sourdough Bread Benefits

Although sourdough bread is often made from the same flour as other types of bread, the fermentation process improves its nutrition profile in several ways.

First, it contains lactobacillus, which is a good bacteria, present in yogurt, kefir, sour cream, buttermilk, etc. It ferments the flour/water mixture and creates lactic acid, a catalyst that greatly increases the micronutrient profile. In simple terms, your body is able to absorb more important nutrients. The lactobacillus is also great because it helps feed the good bacteria found in your digestive system, which will improve your digestions.

The second reason which makes this bread good for your health is the lower levels of phytates. Industrial bread has higher levels of phytates (anti-nutrients), which makes difficult for the body to absorb important nutrients. This happens because the phytates bind to minerals, which reduce the body’s ability to absorb them. Accordingly to the National Center for Biotechnology Information sourdough fermentation may reduce the phytate content of bread by 24–50% more than conventional yeast fermentation. Lower phytate levels increase mineral absorption, which is one of the ways in which sourdough bread is more nutritious than conventional bread.

Last but not least, the sourdough bread as less glucose than white bread, which doesn’t cause a spike in your blood sugars. This happens because a large portion of the glucose is devoured in the fermentation process. The long process also breaks down many of the gluten proteins into amino acids, possibly making sourdough bread tolerable for those who are sensitive to gluten.

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Nutrition Content

The nutrition composition of sourdough bread depends on the type of flour used to make it. So the next data may vary depending on the flours used.

On average, one medium slice weighing approximately 2 ounces (56 g):

Calories: 162 calories
Carbs: 32 grams
Fiber: 2–4 grams
Protein: 6 grams
Fat: 2 grams
Selenium: 22% of the RDI
Folate: 20% of the RDI
Thiamin: 16% of the RDI
Sodium: 16% of the RDI
Manganese: 14% of the RDI
Niacin: 14% of the RDI
Iron: 12% of the RDI

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Sourdough Bread Recipe

You can find pretty good sourdough bread in your local bakeries, but making your own is extra special. Making this bread from scratch is not difficult but requires a lot of time and patience. But if you are up to the challenge we leave you with our favorite video of sourdough bread.

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At The End

Sourdough bread benefits are real and extremely important for human health. Besides the health factors, this bread as an incredible texture, aroma, and taste, which makes it one of the best bread in the world. You can’t get much natural with this bread, no oils, no sweeteners, no nothing. Just water, flour, and salt!