What is Sourdough?
When I first started, I thought sourdough was a type of bread, but one of the reasons I love sourdough is that it is so much more than bread. Sourdough is a method by which baked goods are made without commercial yeast and with a natural, wild yeast. Almost any baked good can be made into a sourdough version. A sourdough starter (which you can make at home!) lifts doughs such as breads and croissants, doing what commercial yeast usually does. A starter is comprised of flour, water, and the wild yeast naturally found in our kitchen. The main difference between baking with sourdough versus commercial yeast is that sourdough requires a longer fermentation time.
It seems like in 2020 a lot more people started baking their own bread and sourdough became increasingly popular but sourdough is not new. So what is the history of sourdough? Our ancestors soaked, sprouted, or fermented their grains before making breads, cakes, and other baked goods. They ate whole grains but not in the same way that we consume grains. Fermenting, soaking or sprouting grains helps make grains, including flour, easier to digest by breaking down phytic acid.
Before commercial yeast was introduced, sourdough was used to leaven bread. The sourdough method was used as early as 2000 BC by ancient Egyptians. Europeans and Americans made bread and baked goods from fermented starters until commercial yeast was invented in the late 1800s.
Phytic Acid
Grains contain phytic acid in their outermost layer. The phytic acid can combine with minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc in the intestines and block the absorption of those minerals. Phytic acid can be neutralized by soaking grains or by using a slow-fermentation processes, like sourdough. So sourdough can be a fun hobby, but it also has benefits to it!
My Experience with Sourdough
I love sourdough because there are so many things you can do with it. Sourdough is a method of baking with natural yeast so you can use a sourdough starter in any baked goods, like breads, croissants, muffins, bagels, and more!
There are so many food bloggers who create and share delicious sourdough recipes. Here a few sourdough recipes that I have recently tried and my family has loved:
- sourdough croissants: https://homegrownhappiness.com/easy-sourdough-croissants/
- sourdough bread: https://simpleisgourmet.com/simple-artisan-sourdough-bread/
- sourdough bagels: https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2021/06/easy-homemade-sourdough-bagels/
Benefits of Sourdough
It it more digestible.
The long fermentation time allows nutrients to start breaking down into more digestible units. The fermentation time that sourdough requires essentially helps our bodies to better digest grains. Flour and grains are a source of minerals, but our bodies have a hard time breaking down and using these minerals because they are in a phytate complex. Reducing a food’s phytic acid content is a good way to help our bodies to better absorb the minerals. Methods like fermenting (sourdough), soaking, or sprouting grains all work to reduce a food’s phytic acid content.
It spikes your blood sugar less than regular white bread.
“Blood sugar” or “blood glucose” are terms that diabetics are probably familiar with. If you don’t have diabetes then you might not know much about blood sugar. Personally I didn’t know much about blood sugar, or the importance of regulating blood sugar, until I read Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar by Jessie Inchauspe, a book I highly recommend.
Glycemic index (GI) is a value assigned to a food based on how much it increases your blood glucose. The scale for glycemic index ranges from 0 to 100; the higher the food’s GI the more it increases your blood glucose. According to 22 research studies, the median GI was 65 for sourdough bread and 94 for baker’s yeast bread. This means that bread made with baker’s yeast (also known as commercial yeast) raises your blood sugar much more than the same quantity of sourdough bread. This is great news for anyone actively monitoring and trying to manage their blood glucose levels. Although sourdough bread and yeast bread make look the same from the outside, this research shows that your body processes sourdough bread and yeast bread differently.
You don’t need to buy yeast. All you need is flour, water, and salt.
During the beginning of covid in spring and summer of 2020, it seems like thousands of people began baking their own bread at home. I vividly remember not being able to find yeast in any stores. I searched stores like Walmart, Giant, Whole Foods, and every grocery store in between and no one had yeast in stock! Once you have an established sourdough starter though, you can use it to bake breads and all kinds of dough, without having to buy store-bought yeast!
It is a new skill/hobby.
In today’s hurried culture, we emphasize convenience and saving time. Unfortunately we have lost some old-fashioned skills in pursuit of our busy, modern lives. Of course we cannot do everything ourselves and it is good to outsource certain things, but I personally have loved learning the skill of making homemade bread. Making something from scratch that I can buy from a store has taught me how to be patient and has given me a huge sense of satisfaction. It has also given me a huge sense of respect for generations before me who made so many foods from scratch. I have memories of my grandmothers and mom making delicious homemade food, and one day I would love to pass on the skill of making sourdough and other foods to my children and future grand-children.
FAQs About Sourdough
What is a starter?
A starter is a fermented culture of flour and water. It is a mixture of flour and water that has collected the natural yeast and bacteria in the surrounding environment. The fermenting yeast in the starter needs to be fed flour and water in order to survive and grow. A really cool aspect of sourdough is that no two sourdough starters are the same. Microbes in different types of flour thrive in different fermentation conditions. According to this study, factors that can affect the microbiome of sourdough include: choice of flour, dough hydration level, fermentation time, and temperature.
Where can I get a starter?
There are many ways to obtain a sourdough starter. You can see if a friend has some to share, you can ask around in local Facebook groups, or you can buy one off of Etsy. You can also create your own sourdough starter at home. There are many Youtube videos and blog posts on the topic of sourdough that can help guide you on the process. Creating your own starter may seem intimidating but here is one post that walks you through creating your own sourdough starter from scratch. Good news – all that you need to create a sourdough starter at home is a glass jar, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and water. I love having a kitchen scale so I can weigh how much flour and water I am using, but a kitchen scale is not mandatory.
Where should I store my starter?
Where you store your sourdough starter depends on how frequently you plan to bake with it. If you bake several times a week, you can keep the starter on your kitchen counter and feed it 1-2 times per day to keep it active. If you bake once a week, or less frequently, you can store it in the fridge. When I don’t plan to use my starter for a little bit, I feed it and then put it in the fridge until I am ready to use it.
What is sourdough discard?
When you are feeding your sourdough starter, you typically remove a portion of your starter prior to feeding it. For example, if you have 200 grams of starter, you could get rid of 100 grams and then feed the remaining 100 grams of starter. If you don’t remove some then you end with way more starter than you need and it will not be as strong. So essentially the discard is just the portion of sourdough discard that you removed, or didn’t use, before feeding it. The term “discard” implies that it can be thrown out but there are many great sourdough discard recipes that you can use your discard in.
Do I still need to use yeast?
If you have an active sourdough starter, this can take the place of commercial baker’s yeast. The active sourdough starter naturally leavens the bread. I have seen some recipes that call for sourdough discard and yeast. In recipes like this, the yeast leavens the baked good since the sourdough discard likely does not have strong enough natural yeast to rise a loaf of bread.
Where can I buy sourdough bread?
The term “sourdough” is not officially regulated so a sourdough label on a loaf of bread does not guarantee that it is genuine sourdough. Genuine sourdough should only contain flour, water, and salt. If a loaf is labeled as “sourdough” but contains other ingredients, it may not have the same benefits.
According to a paper out of CSU, here are some added ingredients you may see on the label:
- Leavening agents: baker’s yeast, baking soda, etc.
- Ingredients that are added to mimic ‘sour’ flavor: vinegar, acetic acid, yogurt, or cultured wheat/flour
- Added ingredients that can speed up and/or interfere with the longer wild yeast fermentation process: vegetable oils and sugars or sweeteners, including honey
- Preservatives to extend shelf life: benzoic acid or cultured wheat
Is sourdough healthier than non-sourdough?
If you consider the health benefits of fermentation and phytic acid being broken down, I would say that genuine sourdough is more nutritious than bread made with conventional yeast. The fermentation process used in making sourdough bread allows our bodies to better digest the bread and absorb minerals. That is not to say that you should eat exclusively sourdough bread and nothing else. I think sourdough bread is a great addition to a well-balanced diet but I don’t think it warrants the health benefits to replace quality proteins, vegetables and fruits.
Do you currently bake with sourdough or are you interested in getting started? If you are interested but haven’t started yet, what is holding you back? Let me know in the comments below and maybe I can help share resources or information that would be helpful!
