Is sourdough healthy?

Whether dipped in olive oil, or slathered in fresh avo, sourdough is a favourite for bread-lovers everywhere. So is it actually healthy?

Susie Burrell Save

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Whether you love to bake your own bread, or prefer to pick up a beautiful loaf from an artisan bakery or even the local supermarket, sourdough is one of the most popular breads at cafes and, increasingly, in home kitchens.

Often associated with wellness lifestyles and all things healthy, sourdough comes in a vast array of varieties with widely differing nutritional characteristics.

So if you love nothing more than a slice of sourdough, here’s everything you need to know about the nutrition of sourdough.

The process to make true sourdough is relatively time-consuming.iStockWhat is sourdough?

While regular bread is made with a base of baker’s yeast, flour and water, traditional sourdough is made using an age-old process involving a starter culture of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, which are cultured naturally from a mix of flour and water.

This culture ferments the naturally occurring sugars found in dough and causes the dough to rise over time, while simultaneously giving sourdough its distinct tangy flavour.

The process to make true sourdough is relatively time-consuming, taking anywhere from a few hours to several days to make. This is why artisan sourdough loaves can be relatively expensive to buy commercially, as they are a lot more laborious and time-consuming to make.

It’s also important to note that much of the nutritional benefit of sourdough depends on the quality of the starter culture, which is why bakeries and sourdough outlets mention the origins of their unique culture.

Traditional sourdough is made using an age-old process involving a starter culture.iStockWhy is sourdough considered healthy?

Sourdough is routinely considered a healthier option than regular, sliced bread for several reasons. One of these is that the fermentation process used to make sourdough naturally helps to reduce the phytate content of the bread. As phytates are known as “anti-nutrients”, blocking the absorption of key nutrients including zinc, magnesium and phosphate, eating sourdough means you will be able to absorb these nutrients more readily.

Then, for people who prefer to avoid gluten but do not have coeliac disease, sourdough is often better tolerated due to the natural fermentation process, which can help make the bread easier to digest. This may explain why some people who struggle with regular bread are able to tolerate sourdough.

There is also evidence to show that sourdough bread has benefits over regular bread when it comes to blood glucose control. Specifically, it is the acidity of sourdough that results from the production of lactic and acetic acids during the fermentation process that results in a bread with a relatively low glycaemic index. This means that after eating sourdough, blood glucose levels will be better controlled.

Related ArticleReal versus faux sourdough

Traditional sourdough will be made with three simple ingredients: flour, water and salt. While supermarkets may sell “sourdough” loaves, a quick scan of the ingredient list may reveal some producers are adding a number of processed ingredients, including sourdough powders or vinegars to create the taste of a sourdough minus a long fermentation. Such varieties will not offer the potential health benefits that a traditional sourdough will.

Keep in mind

Most sourdough served at cafes is white sourdough. However, as with regular bread, wholegrain varieties of sourdough are better for us nutritionally, offering more dietary fibre as well as the nutritional benefits of whole grains.

Sourdough slices are also notoriously large, offering up to double the amount of carbohydrate as small, dense slices of grain bread, which means you may only need a single slice to avoid a carb and calorie overload.

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