Nutritional and Other Health Benefits of Sourdough Bread

Sourdough baking has been gaining in popularity over the past few years and for good reason!

In this post, I'm going to explain how to create and maintain a sourdough starter, essential for baking sourdough bread. You'll learn the simple steps to get started, the best types of flour to use, and the science behind the health benefits of sourdough. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced baker, this guide will help you bake healthier, tastier bread at home.

Jump to:

• Sourdough Starter
• Does the Type of Flour Matter?
• Science of the Starter and Fermentation

My favorite way to use sourdough is at breakfast with these delicious pancakes, but there are endless possibilities for creating sourdough baked goods in your own home! Not only does the traditional baking of sourdough bread bring joy and warmth to a home, it also provides health benefits that aren't found in conventional bread products. Increasing research links our gut health to our overall wellness.

Fermented foods like sourdough can be a delicious and nutritious way to improve our gut microbiome, help improve mineral absorption, and even have a lower glycemic index when compared to commercial bread available at a grocery store.

To better understand sourdough and the potential health benefits of sourdough bread, we need to understand all of the exciting science that is at work in the sourdough fermentation process.

Sourdough Starter

Sourdough products begin with a starter and if you aren’t sure where to start, this post will help make it easy!

It takes some time, but once you have created a starter culture of bacteria, it will last as long as you continue to feed and care for it. I once heard a story of an Italian pizza maker using his family's 300 year old starter! It's so cool to think of a time when commercial baker's yeast wasn't an option, but people still had bread almost daily!

The sourdough starter is simply a mixture of flour and water. Each day, a little bit more flour and water is mixed in until you notice your own sourdough starter beginning to thrive. Tina has a great collection of posts on how to create your own starter called Starter 101. 

The water and flour sit at room temperature and through a long fermentation process become the leavening agent for your future baking. Yeast is naturally found in the air and, in our environment over all. That mix of wild yeast is what will help your baked good rise and give the unique texture to your sourdough bread without adding any commercial yeast. 

Does the Type of Flour Matter?

I have used Einkorn flour, whole wheat flour, and white flour to create all a few different types of sourdough starters. I do find that white flour ferments the best so I recommend starting with that.

Feeding and caring for the starter also takes quite a bit of flour over time so I like the ease and accessibility of white flour. Whole wheat flour is my second choice, but it can mold faster if left alone at room temperature so be sure to pay attention to that.

The type of flour you use for your starter doesn't mean you can only make specific types of bread, though!

Science of the Starter and Fermentation

Remember from science class that a symbiotic relationship is one that is mutually beneficial to the organisms involved. That's what's happening in a sourdough starter.

The wild yeast mentioned above is working with lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The LAB create an acidic environment where the yeast can thrive. This acidic environment is what is responsible for the change the taste and nutritional value of the sourdough product. It also helps with the digestibility of the bread making it a healthier choice for those with digestive issues. 

The yeast begin to reproduce and make the enzymes amylase and maltase. Enzymes are proteins that are involved in energy metabolism. Amylase is also the enzyme in the human body that helps us break down starches. So the amylase produced in a fermented food like sourdough is saving the body work by beginning to break down the starches before you even eat it! That likely contributes the the easier digestion process.

Overall the fermentation process in sourdough breaks down gluten and phytic acid, which can make the bread easier to digest for some people, particularly those with gluten sensitivities or digestive issues. I do not recommend sourdough to those with diagnosed celiac disease who need to follow a gluten-free diet. Even with long fermentation, traditional sourdough bread still contains gluten.

However, a sourdough starter can be made from potato flour and allow those with gluten intolerance to still create a healthier option for the type of bread they need. 

Amylase and maltase in the fermenting starter help break down the flour (carbohydrates) into simple sugars. These simple sugars are then available as food for the LAB. As the LAB are eating their simple sugars, there is another enzyme at play, invertase.

Invertase helps the simple sugars become CO2 and the CO2 (carbon dioxide gas) helps create bubbles in the starter.

Lastly, phytase is an enzyme working to break down phytic acid. This process helps make the nutrients naturally found in whole grains to become more easily available for the body to use. The more available nutrients are for the body (bioavailable), the higher the nutritional benefits can be absorbed by the body. 

Gluten is the protein found in wheat. The fermentation process changes gluten by digesting two amino acids, proline and glutamine. The long fermentation process typically results in less gluten in the product because the proteins have been further broken down during fermentation.

Proline and glutamine are not able to be digested by the human body so when these organic acids continue to be broken down during fermentation, they are pre-digesting these compounds before we consume them. Because of this process, sourdough bread is typically a good choice for those with non-celiac gluten sensitivity or anyone really!

The packaged yeast found in stores helped decrease production time and create a dough rise in less time, but it is isolated yeast that doesn't contain lactic acid bacteria. So, it makes sense that conventional yeast and gluten-containing products have an impact on human health. They are missing some key beneficial bacteria that help create a healthy digestive system. 

As a registered dietitian, I hope these tips and insights help you bake nutritious, delicious sourdough bread at home. Happy baking, and don't forget about the favor you're doing to your body by eating properly fermented sourdough!