In recent years, sourdough has been gaining popularity as an alternative to your typical loaf of bread. As sourdough lovers, we are definitely on board. But what is sourdough?
Sourdough is characterized by the process in which it rises, it does this through the gasses produced from fermented grains. Other loaves of bread use yeast as a raising agent whereas sourdough uses a starter.
A sourdough starter is just water and flour, this is left to ferment for a few days so that it produces its own natural yeast and bacteria.
There are many reasons why you should try sourdough, but we have managed to narrow it down to what we believe to be the 5 most important ones.
It Tastes Great
This may seem like the most obvious reason but it is an often overlooked one. In fact, most people don’t know what sourdough bread really tastes like. Many make the mistake of believing that sourdough just tastes like sour white bread.
Sourdough has quite a mild tangy flavor and is wonderfully soft. It can be made with different types of flour to change the overall taste of the bread.
You also get to enjoy the taste of your sourdough for longer. Due to the fermentation process, sourdough produces mold-resistant bacteria so it has a longer shelf life.
You Can Make It At Home
Now making your bread at home isn’t something out of the ordinary, but many believe sourdough to be out of their skill level. All you need is 3 ingredients (water, flour, and salt), a bit of patience, and a lot of love. This is because you will need to make your own sourdough starter and take care of it before making your sourdough.
A sourdough starter consists of equal parts water and flour, every day you need to feed your starter with the same ingredients. After around 5 days the starter will have started to ferment and will start bubbling.
If it doesn’t bubble, produces different colors, or looks fuzzy then you will need to scrap it and start again. Many find that simply naming your starter gives you the dedication to properly take care of it.
The benefit of making your sourdough at home is not only to get the pride of baking a gorgeous loaf, but also the knowledge of what is exactly in your bread. There are no added sweeteners or additives to your homemade loaf.
Easier On Your Gut
Many consider sourdough to be easier on your gut than regular wheat bread. This is because the fermentation process starts breaking down the gluten before your body does. Almost like giving your kickstart to your digestive system.
You also get probiotics from the sourdough starter which help with digestion. While a lot of the bacteria from the starter is killed off during the baking process, there is evidence to suggest that it will still be good for you.
It Is Healthier Than Other Commercially Bought Bread
Sourdough has a lower glycemic index level, meaning that it has less of an impact on blood sugar levels when compared to other commercially bought bread.
While it has similar nutritional levels as other bread types, the fermentation process makes these nutrients easier to absorb. This means that you get higher levels of iron, magnesium and calcium from sourdough. It also provides antioxidants which you don’t usually get from bread.
Sourdough Is Versatile
Sourdough is technically about the fermentation process, this means that anything made from the starter can be considered sourdough. Sourdough is very versatile and can be made into a variety of different bread types. Especially if you make your sourdough yourself, you can find lots of recipes online for you to experiment with.
Since sourdough is such a popular way of making bread, essentially every country has its own way of using it. Ethiopia has injera which is a staple in their cuisine and is almost pancake in shape, Russia has borodinsky bread which is a dark brown sourdough rye, and Italy has Coppia Ferrarese which is a twisted sourdough.
Conclusion
Sourdough has been a part of our diet for many years, the earliest example of it can be dated back to 3700 BCE but likely dated back thousands of years before that. Pliny the Elder wrote about the process of creating sourdough in his work ‘Natural History’.
So clearly if this amazing dough can withstand the test of time, it must be doing something right.
