The Benefits Of Eating Sourdough Bread – Is It Really Good For You?

Love yourself some sourdough bread? A thick slice of sourdough, perfectly toasted with some scrambled eggs on top might be the perfect, cafe-style breakfast or brunch, but is sourdough bread actually good for you? Is it better for you than regular bread? Or is it all just about the taste?

Sourdough bread is a type of bread that has been fermented, and it’s this fermentation process which may give sourdough bread its reported health benefits. The souring process (fermentation) gives the bread its unique, tangy, “sour” taste and reportedly makes it more nutritious and easier to digest.

To be clear, this article is not saying that sourdough bread is necessary for you or that you must consume it - people can live a long and healthy life without ever eating a piece of sourdough bread!

However, there are some alleged benefits to including fermented foods such as sourdough bread into your diet, so we’re here to help provide some perspective on whether or not sourdough bread is actually good for you. 

Here Are Some Facts About Sourdough Bread And Its Health Benefits:

1) The fermentation process of sourdough bread creates lactic acid, which can help strengthen your immune system by inhibiting cancer-causing agents in your body as well as by strengthening the gut barrier.

2) The fermentation process of sourdough bread can provide various vitamins and minerals as well as various probiotic strains of bacteria (good for gut health).

3) The fermentation process of sourdough bread may help promote a healthy digestive system by creating the right conditions for your digestive system to work properly (which means creating a healthy environment, not necessarily working in the way you expect it to).

This important fermenting process begins with the sourdough starter or “mother dough”. The sourdough starter is a simple mixture of flour and water that is left to ferment for a number of days.

Then, whenever some of the sourdough starter is used, it is also given time to further brew and ferment when mixed with more flour and water to create a sourdough loaf.

Sourdough bread can be consumed in many different ways, including: eating it without anything else, toasted, or in sandwiches. The sourdough starter (or mother dough) can also be used to create many different foods (not just bread), such as sourdough pizza, muffins, brownies and cookies.

Basically, if it’s a baked food, you can probably incorporate some sourdough starter into your recipe - it adds a unique taste, helps your dough or batter to rise and, allegedly, will add some of the reported health benefits of sourdough into your food. 

As you can see, eating sourdough bread may provide various benefits, but you’ll need to make your own decisions about whether sourdough bread is a better bread option for you.

As a loaf of bread, it is reportedly easier to digest than regular bread, and some people with gluten intolerance find they are able to manage sourdough bread better than regular bread. But, depending on how it is made, it still contains gluten so would not suit everybody. 

At the end of the day, adding fermented foods to your diet seems to be very beneficial for gut health and, if your gut is healthy, most of our bodily systems will work better.

So, given the choice between a slice of sourdough bread or a slice of regular bread, I’d say take the sourdough!