Sourdough bread: Benefits, recipes, and more
Sourdough Bread: Is It Good for You?
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
- Vitamin C 0%
- Iron 17%
- Vitamin B6 0%
- Magnesium 0%
- Calcium 4%
- Vitamin D 0%
- Cobalamin 0%
- Vitamin A 0%
Recently, there seems to be a renewed interest in sourdough bread, with hundreds of people developing their own starters and practicing home-made recipes. Though making sourdough bread has become a popular activity, the bread has been around for thousands of years. It is the oldest type of leavened bread (bread that rises due to yeast or other ingredients) on record, and it’s enjoyed in many cultures around the world.
That’s because sourdough bread is easy to make. Instead of using baker’s yeast, sourdough bread relies on a starter: a mixture of water and flour that develops a population of wild yeast. This yeast produces lactic acid, the source of sourdough bread’s distinctive tangy taste. This acid both flavors the bread and kills unwanted bacteria, keeping a sourdough starter safer from going bad.
Today, sourdough bread can be made at home or bought in stores throughout the country. Many people tout the health benefits of sourdough bread, but it’s still not for everyone. Here’s a breakdown of the benefits and drawbacks of sourdough bread.
Nutrition Information
An average one slice of sourdough bread (about 50 grams) contains:
- Calories: 185
- Protein: 2 grams
- Fat: 1 grams
- Carbohydrates: 36 grams
- Fiber: 1 gram
- Sugar: Less than 1 gram
Sourdough bread is an excellent source of:
Sourdough bread is also an excellent source of antioxidants. Studies have shown that antioxidants like the peptides found in sourdough can lower the risk for certain types of cancer, signs of aging, or chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.
Potential Health Benefits of Sourdough Bread
Sourdough bread is a rich source of vitamins and minerals. However, the same qualities that make sourdough bread so healthy can also create complications for people with certain medical conditions.
Research has found a number of potential health benefits to eating sourdough bread:
General Body Functions
Sourdough bread is particularly rich in nutrients that the body can easily absorb. This is due to the way that the lactic acid bacteria in the bread interacts with these nutrients. These bacteria destroy certain types of acid commonly found in other types of bread, which increases the availability of nutrients like folate, potassium, and magnesium.
Your body needs folate to divide cells and make DNA and other genetic materials. Potassium also aids in the function of your cells. It regulates your heartbeat, helps your nerves and muscles function properly, and is necessary to make proteins and metabolize carbs. Magnesium regulates your muscle and nerve function, controls blood sugar and protein levels, and helps make protein, bones, and DNA.
Disease Prevention
The lactic acid bacteria are also responsible for increased antioxidants in sourdough bread compared to other types of bread. Antioxidants protect your cells from damage that cause serious diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and more.
Lower Blood Sugar Levels
Eating sourdough bread may help you keep your blood sugar levels more stable than if you were to eat white bread. The bacteria that helps form sourdough also have a unique effect on the starch in the bread.
It changes the structure of the bread molecules — making your body absorb them slower, which lowers the bread’s glycemic index. This means that your insulin levels will not spike as high after eating a slice of sourdough bread as they would after eating white bread.
Improved Digestive Health
Sourdough bread may be easier to digest than white bread for some people. According to some studies, sourdough bread acts as a prebiotic, which means that the fiber in the bread helps feed the “good” bacteria in your intestines. These bacteria are important for maintaining a stable, healthy digestive system.
Sourdough is also lower in gluten than other forms of bread. It appears that the acid in the bread degrades gluten. As a result, people with gluten intolerance may find that sourdough is easier on their stomachs.
Potential Risks of Eating Sourdough Bread
Just because sourdough bread is nutritious doesn’t mean that it comes without risks. Consider the following before eating sourdough bread:
Contamination
Many people enjoy making sourdough at home. While this is normally perfectly safe, in some cases it’s possible to develop a contaminated sourdough starter. Your sourdough starter has may be contaminated if it:
- never bubbles
- develops green, pink, orange, or black patches,
- appears “fuzzy”
Throw your sourdough starter away if it’s exhibiting any of these qualities.
Not Gluten-Free
While sourdough bread is usually lower in gluten, it is not gluten-free. People with a gluten intolerance may find that sourdough is easier to digest, but people with celiac disease will likely still experience symptoms if they eat sourdough bread. If you have a gluten intolerance or celiac disease, consult with your physician before adding sourdough bread to your diet.
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British Journal of Nutrition: “Use of sourdough lactobacilli and oat fibre to decrease the glycaemic index of white wheat bread.”
ESHA Research, Inc., Salem, Oregon: “Bread sourdough, med slice”.
Food Microbiology: “Sourdough and cereal fermentation in a nutritional perspective.”
FoodData Central: “Bread, french or vienna (includes sourdough).”
Harvard Health Publishing: “The importance of potassium”
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry: “Prolonged fermentation of whole wheat sourdough reduces phytate level and increases soluble magnesium.”
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Sourdough bread: Benefits, recipes, and more
Sourdough bread may have health benefits due to the fermentation process that manufacturers use to make it. Beneficial bacteria and low phytates make sourdough bread easy to digest, and they may also help with weight loss.
Sourdough bread is a fermented food that people around the world have eaten for thousands of years.
Manufacturers make it using a starter culture with yeasts and bacteria. These microbes ferment the carbohydrates in the flour, producing carbon dioxide gas that makes the bread rise.
Sourdough is a traditional leavened bread, so it takes longer to ferment than regular bread and has a tart flavor and unique texture. Leavening is the process of using a raising agent to make bread rise. To make regular bread, manufacturers use commercial baker’s yeast.
This article discusses the potential health benefits of sourdough bread. It also offers a basic recipe and some alternatives to consider and looks at the nutritional profile of a slice of typical sourdough bread.
According to some research, sourdough-leavened wholemeal bread can help a person lose excess weight. This effect is due to the combined glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) ratings.
Although food in general has an effect on blood sugar levels, the overall effect on blood sugar concentrations also depends on the carbohydrates in specific foods. The two measures that experts use to rate that effect are the GI and the GL.
The GI measures how quickly foods can increase blood sugar levels. It rates a food from 0 to 100, with sugar (pure glucose) at 100. Processed foods may have a higher GI rating than food that is lower in fat or fiber.
The GL is a measure that scientists developed to calculate how carbohydrate amounts in food can potentially interact with blood sugar levels.
When taken together, these ratings may help a person make healthy food choices that are not immediately apparent from the GI rating alone. For example, watermelon has a GI rating of 80, but it has a low amount of carbohydrates and, therefore, a GL rating of 5.
Sourdough bread has a GI rating of 54 and a GL rating of 8, while bread made from white wheat flour has a GI rating of 71 and a GL rating of 9.
This combination of a GI rating of 54 and a GL rating of 8 puts sourdough bread in a low GI category, according to international tables.
The fermentation process that manufacturers use to make sourdough bread means that the food may be easier to digest than some other types, particularly for people with digestive issues.
A laboratory study using stool samples from donors with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) suggested that sourdough bread was less likely to lead to IBS symptoms than unfermented bread.
The researchers suggested that sourdough bread enhances the growth of beneficial bacteria rather than undesirable microorganisms. Sourdough bread’s long fermentation times may cause less gas and bloating than regular wheat bread.
A 2018 study suggested that sourdough bread may reduce fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs). FODMAPS can cause symptoms in people with IBS.
The study indicated that sourdough bread may also reduce abdominal pain and flatulence and improve the gut’s microbiota.
Some research from 2005 suggested that the sourdough fermentation process can lower the phytate content of whole wheat flour. Phytates are plant compounds that can inhibit the absorption of essential nutrients in the body.
The review indicated that the phytic acid degradation in sourdough bread increases the bioavailability of minerals, free amino acids, and protein.
The fermentation process of sourdough bread reduces anti-nutrients such as phytates in humans and monogastric animals, and it increases beneficial phytochemicals.
Some research has indicated that sourdough bread has more phenols, carotenoids, folates, and other beneficial compounds than unfermented bread.
Many of the plant compounds present in sourdough bread have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which can benefit health.
Making sourdough bread usually takes longer than making regular bread. There are many recipes using different flours and ingredients.
Also, the lactic acid bacteria produce antimicrobial and antioxidant metabolites, which help preserve the bread so that it has a longer shelf life.
Sourdough starter
To make sourdough bread, a person will need to obtain an active sourdough starter from a supplier. They could also make their own sourdough starter and feed it with flour and water over a number of days.
Basic recipe
The following is a basic recipe for sourdough bread.
Ingredients
- 250 grams (g) (1.04 cups) of warm water
- 500 g (3.23 cups) of white flour
- 10 g (2 teaspoons) of salt
Instructions
- Put the flour into a bowl and add 300 g (1 cup) of a sourdough starter.
- Add the water and salt, and combine all the ingredients into a consistency suitable for kneading.
- Turn out the dough onto a board or other suitable surface, and knead it for approximately 15 minutes.
- Leave the dough in a warm area to rise for 2 hours.
- Shape the dough and place it into a loaf tin dusted with flour.
- Leave the dough to rise for a second time for 8–12 hours.
- Heat a baking stone or tray in an oven at 464°F (240°C) and turn the dough out onto the stone.
- Cut a mark on the top and bake for 30 minutes or until golden.
There are many versions of sourdough bread, and people can choose recipes and ingredients to suit their tastes and dietary requirements. Some recipes add ingredients such as chocolate and cinnamon.
There are also sourdough versions of the following baked goods:
- pizza
- hot cross buns
- bagels
- fruit buns
- panettone
- focaccia
- panmarino, a classic Italian rosemary bread
- spelt, or einkorn bread
- pita bread
- pumpernickel
Traditional sourdough bread uses strong white flour. However, people who have celiac disease or who eat a gluten-free diet can make sourdough bread using ingredients such as brown rice flour, psyllium husk, and flax seeds.
Usually, sourdough bread recipes are suitable for vegans, but some recipes and breads in grocery stores may contain milk.
Manufacturers make sourdough bread with different types of flour and ingredients, so the nutritional profile can vary.
The table below shows the total amounts of nutrients in a 60-g portion of organic sourdough bread. A portion of this size has 150 calories.
| Nutrient | Amount |
|---|---|
| protein | 6 g |
| fat | 0 g |
| carbohydrates | 29 g |
| fiber | 1 g |
| sodium | 280 milligrams |
Sourdough bread is a healthy bread that may be easier for people to digest than other types of bread. The fermented starter culture contains beneficial bacteria and yeasts.
People with digestive conditions such as IBS may find that sourdough bread causes fewer symptoms than regular bread. Sourdough bread may also be beneficial for people who want to lose weight.
Last medically reviewed on May 20, 2021
How we reviewed this article:
Medical News Today has strict sourcing guidelines and draws only from peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We avoid using tertiary references. We link primary sources — including studies, scientific references, and statistics — within each article and also list them in the resources section at the bottom of our articles. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.
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https://www.wegmans.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/bread-wegmans-nutrition-facts.pdf - Bartkiene, E., et al. (2020). Lactic acid bacteria isolation from spontaneous sourdough and their characterization including antimicrobial and antifungal properties evaluation.
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https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/food-beverages/glycemic-index-glycemic-load - Landis, E. A., et al. (2021). The diversity and function of sourdough starter microbiomes.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7837699/ - Leenhardt, F., et al. (2005). Moderate decrease of pH by sourdough fermentation is sufficient to reduce phytate content of whole wheat flour through endogenous phytase activity [Abstract].
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15631515/ - Menezes, L. A. A., et al. (2018). Effects of sourdough on FODMAPs in bread and potential outcomes on irritable bowel syndrome patients and healthy subjects.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01972/full - Poutanen K., et al. (2009). Sourdough and cereal fermentation in a nutritional perspective [Abstract].
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https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/the-lowdown-on-glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load - Top 50 sourdough recipes. (2016).
https://www.sourdough.co.uk/top-50-sourdough-recipes/ - Zafar, M. I., et al. (2019). Low glycaemic index diets as an intervention for obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis [Abstract].
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/obr.12791
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Medically reviewed by Kim Rose-Francis RDN, CDCES, CNSC, LD, Nutrition — By Louisa Richards on May 20, 2021
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© 2004-2023 Healthline Media UK Ltd, Brighton, UK, a Red Ventures Company. All rights reserved. MNT is the registered trade mark of Healthline Media. Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. See additional information.