Sourdough bread has become a recent craze among many people, and I think it’s for a good reason. Baking with sourdough has so many benefits. Not only does it allow you to bake things yourself, which gives you great experiences and peace of mind about what is in the things you’re making, but it also has many different health benefits that not many people are aware of. Not to mention how delicious a fresh baked sourdough bread loaf is. So, what makes sourdough so great? Read on to find out.
What is Sourdough?
Before we get into all the benefits of eating sourdough, I should first give you a little background on what sourdough is. Sourdough is the oldest way to make bread, and at one point all bread was made this way. The earliest bread has been dated back to 3700 BC in Lausanne, Switzerland. The term “sourdough” doesn’t refer to the bread itself but to the process in which it is made. This type of dough is simply flour that has been inoculated with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and wild yeast cultures. These cultures are what lead to sourdough’s infamous sour taste. That may sound gross, but bacteria cultures are an important part of our health. Especially the health of our gut (the gut microbiome).
The dough is inoculated with these cultures by being made with a sourdough starter. A sourdough starter is simply flour and water mixed in an unsealed jar so that it can obtain live cultures from the air. The LAB produce organic acids that acidify the dough and give it higher nutritional value than conventional bread. I’ll make a more detailed post on how to make and maintain a sourdough starter, but here’s the quick version: combine equal parts flour and water in a jar, place the lid on top without sealing it, discard some the next day, feed it so that there are equal amounts starter, water, and flour in the jar, and continue that process every time it looks hungry. I’m sure that was very confusing, so if you’re interested in starting your own starter keep your eyes out for that post soon.
The cultures come from a variety of places including the spoon you use to mix the starter, the air, your hands, the jar, and even the flour. When the flour and water mix, the enzymes in the flour convert long starch molecules into simple sugars. These sugars provide the fuel for microbial reproduction. Like I said earlier, the two most important microorganisms in a sourdough starter are yeasts and lactic acid bacteria.
Yeasts are a member of the fungus kingdom. In the kitchen, they are primarily responsible for the leavening of dough and the production of beer. In order to reproduce, the yeasts convert simple carbohydrates into carbon dioxide and ethanol, a process knows as alcoholic fermentation. The production of CO2 is what gives sourdough its distinguishing bubbles. This is also how the dough rises and becomes light and fluffy when baking a loaf of bread. The most commonly occurring yeasts in sourdough bread cultures are Saccharomyces exiguus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Candida milleri.
Lactic acid bacteria are rod-shaped or spherical and primarily produce lactic acid. In a starter, these bacteria outnumber the yeast by up to 100 times. The production of lactic acid by these bacteria lowers the pH of the sourdough starter to around 3.5 which gives sourdough its distinct flavor. The low pH also eliminates unwanted pathogens, and gives sourdough a longer shelf-life than other breads by inhibiting the growth of mold. The bacteria also release protease enzymes that break down gluten over time, which results in a softer, lighter texture.
A stable sourdough starter features a good balance of microbes that allows each to thrive with little to no competition. Yeasts give off ethanol, which the LAB are able to tolerate, and LAB give off acids that the wild yeasts are able to tolerate. The yeasts also produce additional amounts of amylase enzymes as they reproduce which convert to simple sugars and provides food the whole microbiome within the starter.
What are the Nutritional Benefits of Sourdough?
Because sourdough bread has a much slower fermentation process than yeasted breads, it is more nutritious because the body can access and use more of the fiber, vitamins, and minerals found within the bread. The long, slow fermentation also reduces the amount of gluten within the loaf, which allows the bread to be digested more easily, and it increases resistant starch which can control blood sugar, making it a good bread option for people with Type 2 Diabetes. Baking your own sourdough bread adds even more nutritional value because it ensures that there are no toxic ingredients like preservatives or emulsifiers, and you can bake with organic ingredients if that is important to you.
What are the Health Benefits of Sourdough?
As an article on the Sourdough School’s website says, “When you eat, you’re not just eating for yourself, but for the trillions of microbes in your gut as well. We are symbiotic.” The microbes in your gut microbiome play a huge role in your digestion and in your overall health. Your gut health affects almost every other biological process in your body, but especially your mental health (heard of the brain-gut axis/connection?) and your immune system. When we eat, we are providing fuel for our own human cells to function properly, but we are also providing fuel for the many microbes within our body (most of which are located within your gut & on your skin) to function properly, and in turn help our bodies to be as healthy as possible. I recently heard that our bodies are a 1:1 ratio of human to microbe cells. That should tell you just how important those microbes are to us.
Only 20% of diseases are a result of genetics. That means that the majority of diseases people struggle with daily are a result of their environment and lifestyle. The things you eat, bread included, are a huge part of that, and baking your own bread puts you in charge of that rather than relying on other people to nourish and fuel your body correctly and with good ingredients.
Scientists have linked a disruption of the balance of the flora within the intestines with increased inflammation, which is the cause of almost every noncommunicable disease in humans- diabetes, asthma, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and arthritis. Since gut health plays a huge part of overall health of the body, a big cause of chronic inflammation is inflammation of the gut. Research pertaining to IBS indicates that phytic acid found in the bran part of wheat could be a cause of digestive discomfort and bloating when eating bread and other wheat products. Since humans only have one stomach unlike some other mammals, the phytic acid inhibits enzymes that are needed to breakdown proteins and starch within the stomach, resulting in digestion struggles. Eating sourdough can lessen these effects of phytic acid. The wild yeast and lactobacillus in the starter neutralize the phytic acid as the bread acidifies, making it easier to digest and therefore lessening inflammation. Phytic acid also binds to other minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc, making them less available for our body to absorb. The long, slow fermentation process of wheat in sourdough reduced phytic acid by up to 90%.
The LAB present in sourdough also leads to an increase in magnesium and solubility because of the enhanced acidification of the dough. Sourdough is also a pre-biotic which means it helps to support the gut microbiome and digestive health by promoting the increase of good bacteria in the gut.
I also truly believe that the act of baking bread can do so much for your health. For me, baking is so therapeutic and relaxing. I can have so many things to do or be in a bad mood, but as soon as I start to bake my stress levels decrease and I feel so much better. Because of this, I think that the simple act of baking sourdough bread can greatly improve your mental health as well.
“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.” -M.F.K. Fisher