Sourdough 101: The Benefits of Sourdough

What is sourdough bread and why should you make it? Here’s everything you need to know about sourdough: making sourdough starter, the benefits of sourdough bread, the best sourdough tips and tricks, and of course, yummy sourdough bread recipes!

If you’ve ever asked yourself “What is sourdough bread?” or “Is sourdough bread healthy?” or “What are the benefits of sourdough bread?” or even “Do I really need to spend 24 hours making ONE loaf of bread?” – then you’re in the right place.

I’ve had these same questions myself and spent way too many hours trying to figure it all out on my own.

I’m saving you the time and headache and compiling the answers to these questions (in plain English) as well as a simple method for making a sourdough bread starter, details on gluten-free sourdough, and plenty of easy sourdough bread recipes, in this beginner’s guide to sourdough.

Read on to learn about sourdough and how to get started!

WHAT IS SOURDOUGH BREAD? (A PRIMER)

Regular bread (typical store-bought white or wheat sandwich bread) is made using active dry yeast or instant dry yeast. This is the key ingredient that makes the bread rise in anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours.

Active dry yeast and instant dry yeast most often come in little 3-packs at the grocery store. The most basic bread recipes use commercial yeast, water, all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour or bread flour, and salt, whether the bread is store-bought or made at home.

WHAT IS SOURDOUGH?

Sourdough is slow-fermented bread. It’s made using an active sourdough starter that contains wild yeast – NOT the little packets of yeast from the store. Wild yeast (also known as natural leaven) is captured from the air in a sourdough starter. This is what makes the sourdough bread rise, but it takes significantly longer – anywhere from 12 to 36 hours, depending on the recipe and method. (The rise time in sourdough baking is often called a proof or bulk fermentation.)

Sourdough bread is known for its tangy and sour flavor, chewy texture on the inside (sometimes with big holes, sometimes without), and golden crispy crust on the outside.

MAKING SOURDOUGH STARTER

Sourdough is probably the absolute easiest homemade ferment I’ve ever made. In fact, it nearly ties kefir for the easiest fermentation ever.

• Mix flour and water.
• Wait.
• Repeat.

Seriously? In seven minutes – one minute a day – I had natural leaven ready for homemade bread. It’s the perfect recipe for those with busy schedules (and bloggers testing out various types of flour in an assortment of baking recipes).

Sourdough starter is a live culture made by adding water to room-temperature flour. This combination activates the good bacteria found in both the flour and your environment. Here’s a simple explanation of the process:

• flour + water = natural enzymes break down starches into glucose (sugar), and good bacteria create lactic acid and acetic acid (tang)
• glucose (sugar) + natural bacteria (tang) = food for wild yeast (leaven) which it attracts from the environment
• wild yeast (leaven) + more flour + more flour = more wild yeast
• more wild yeast + even more flour + even more flour = natural leaven (carbon dioxide)

Once your sourdough starter is mature (at least 30 days old) and consistently bubbles when you feed it, you are ready to bake sourdough bread!

Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on making a sourdough starter, including how much flour and water to start with, how much and how often to feed the starter, and what to do with the sourdough starter discard so you aren’t throwing away good food.

TIPS FOR THE BEST SOURDOUGH BREAD STARTER

• Water kefir can be used instead of filtered water when making a starter. In general, this method produces a ready starter in less time.
• Feeding the starter more often will cause the yeast to multiply faster.
• Yeast thrives better with more rather than less air circulation.
• Pouring off the excess liquid on the top of your starter will lessen the sour taste. You can also just mix it back in.
• In general, thicker starters yield better-baked goods, so use less water when feeding the starter. Alternatively, if the starter feels too thick for a recipe, add water.
• Sourdough is forgiving. It thrives when fed regularly but won’t throw fits if you miss a feeding (or two).

BENEFITS OF SOURDOUGH BREAD

Is sourdough bread healthy? When compared to typical white or wheat sandwich bread, there are some pretty obvious sourdough bread benefits.

Sourdough bread is essentially fermented, just like yogurt, sauerkraut, and kombucha. Most of the population inherently knows that these foods are good for you, and there are other benefits of sourdough bread too:

• More B vitamins. During the fermentation process, the good bacteria unlock B vitamins in the bread, including vitamin B12 which is typically found in animal-based foods.
• More prebiotic and probiotic properties. Prebiotics feed existing gut flora and cause it to multiply. Probiotics do good things while they’re temporarily passing through the digestive system. Both prebiotics and probiotics help improve gut health.
• May help digest gluten. Sourdough bread is not inherently gluten-free, but the long fermentation of the gluten can help improve the digestion of gluten, making it possible for some who are sensitive to gluten (not Celiac) to enjoy bread again.
• Helps digest starches. The long soaking required of sourdough breaks down much of the phytates that bind the minerals in grains. With the phytates gone, our bodies can more easily digest starches and use the nutrients in the grains. Read more about soaking grains here.
• May promote healthy aging. This study found that sourdough contains antioxidants and qualities that are anti-hypertensive and anti-diabetic.
• May lower blood sugar. Sourdough bread doesn’t cause your blood sugar to rise as high, or as quickly, as typical white bread or whole-wheat bread. Sourdough also tends to be higher in fiber, which counteracts the strain on blood sugar.

One last neat tidbit: sourdough bread is less likely to get stale, retains much of its moisture as it ages, and its acidity helps prevent the growth of mold! Now this doesn’t mean your sourdough won’t EVER go stale and will NEVER grow mold. But it’s nice to know that the artisan loaf you treated yourself to at the farmer’s market won’t go bad too quickly.

IS SOURDOUGH BREAD HEALTHY?

In traditional sourdough recipes, you’ll find just four ingredients:

1. Starter Culture (a.k.a. sourdough starter made with flour and water)
2. Flour
3. Water
4. Salt

There is no yeast, no milk, no oils, and no sweeteners in most traditional sourdough bread recipes. It’s about as simple of an ingredients list as you can get when it comes to bread!

That doesn’t mean you CAN’T add milk or oils or sweeteners to sourdough. My Sourdough Sandwich Bread uses milk and butter to create a softer crumb, and my Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread uses honey to balance the heartiness of the whole wheat flour. You could easily add herbs or cheeses or dried fruit to create endless flavors of delicious sourdough bread.

What you want to be on the lookout for, though, is store-bought sourdough bread that contains yeast, processed oils, and preservatives. These are considered “cheats” in the sourdough world, and any “sourdough” loaf that has them isn’t a true loaf of sourdough bread.

IS SOURDOUGH BREAD GLUTEN-FREE?

No, sourdough bread is not inherently gluten-free. I mentioned above that the fermentation process breaks down the gluten in flour, making it easier to digest, but it doesn’t eliminate the gluten altogether.

You CAN, however, make gluten-free sourdough bread. This is a trusted recipe that yields a great loaf.

In order to make gluten-free sourdough, you need a gluten-free sourdough starter. Find the complete step-by-step process here.

SOURDOUGH VS. SOAKING VS. SPROUTING

In a real food kitchen, we only have so much time. This means that sometimes, we have to choose which foods or methods get our priority, and which ones we take shortcuts on. In an ideal world, I’d have time for making sourdough bread, soaking the oats, and sprouting the almonds.

But if I have to choose, which of these real food methods is giving me the most bang for my buck?

SOURDOUGH

Sourdough Pros: Takes very little hands-on time, is the least expensive bread recipe, plenty of nutrition benefits (see above).

Sourdough Cons: Rise times are a bit unpredictable depending on your kitchen, occasional fails happen.

SOAKING

Soaking Pros: Soaking is mostly hands-off and doesn’t cost extra if you already have the soaking liquid (such as whey) in your kitchen, soaking breaks down gluten and phytic acid, and soaking predigests starches, easing the work of the body.

Soaking Cons: Need to plan ahead to include soaking time, sometimes you have to convert recipes to include soaking, the cost of soaking liquid, doesn’t break down all of the phytic acid, only works for whole grains so no point if using white flour.

Read more about The Science Behind Soaking Grains here.

SPROUTING

Sprouting Pros: Doesn’t take much time or extra ingredients, plenty of benefits to sprouting.

Sprouting Cons: Possible equipment cost if you want to use a dehydrator or a grain mill, can take up to four days to complete the whole process, and you have to check often during dehydrating to see if they’re done.

Read more about sprouting here.

SO WHICH IS THE BEST METHOD?

Ultimately, I generally choose sourdough because of the benefits of sourdough bread. Even though I don’t have any wheat or gluten sensitivities, I’ve noticed it is easier on my own body to digest, and I’ve been able to fit regular sourdough bread baking into my kitchen time.

I typically use about 50% white flour in a lot of my bread recipes. And since soaking has no effect on white flour and only minimally reduces phytic acid, I can’t say I’m all-in for soaking for bread.

There are significant benefits to sprouting, and sprouting nuts is something that can easily be incorporated into a busy schedule, even when you include the dehydrating time (now that I know we prefer them after a full 24 hours).

However, the issue of sprouting grains is like a teeter-totter and I’m not yet completely on board. Sprouting grains means we have to buy them whole, and I haven’t yet found a quality source that is affordable. So, for now, sprouting is just an occasional choice for me.

Whether you choose to include any or all of these real food methods for getting the most nutrition out of your food will depend on your particular time, budget, and priorities.

If you choose sourdough, like me, here’s a great place to get started!

EASY SOURDOUGH BREAD RECIPE

Now that you know all about sourdough, and you have a sourdough starter established, it’s time to make this easy sourdough bread recipe!

Sourdough has always seemed like a specialty bread to me. Little did I know it would almost beat out No-Knead Artisan Bread in its simplicity. A fancy sourdough loaf I can make at home and slather with butter? Yes, please.

Seriously, sourdough bread is so easy to make!

The only downside of sourdough bread is that it does take time. The work itself isn’t hard, but you must plan ahead if you’re wanting to make sourdough 100% from scratch.

Most sourdough bread recipes call for a long rise, anywhere from 6 to 24 hours. It’s during this long rise time that the yeast and good bacteria from the sourdough starter spread throughout the rest of the ingredients and ferment the dough. A combination of the sourdough starter and the fermentation time is what gives sourdough bread its signature tang.

• Long Ferment [long rise time(s)] = more tang, more sour bread
• Short Ferment [short rise time(s)] = less tang, less sour, more mild bread

Making sourdough bread is my favorite way to use my Sourdough Starter, but you can also switch things up and make sourdough baguettes, sourdough rolls, or even sourdough pizza dough, all using that same sourdough starter.

HOMEMADE SOURDOUGH BREAD RECIPES

Try one of these homemade sourdough bread recipes once your sourdough starter is ready to go!

• Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe: This is the perfect sourdough bread recipe for beginners, with step-by-step instructions!
• Sourdough Sandwich Bread: Bake a loaf or two of sourdough sandwich bread for lunch all week long.
• Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread: This whole wheat sourdough bread is slightly sweet.
• Gluten Free Sourdough Bread: A great place to start if you need to make gluten free sourdough.

SOURDOUGH BREAD TIPS AND TRICKS

Now that I’ve been making sourdough bread for a while, I’ve discovered some tips and tricks to get the best loaf, and I’ve got them for each step of the sour bread process.

MAKING DOUGH…

• You want to bake with a starter that is at its peak – when nearly all of the yeast has eaten but it hasn’t begun to go dormant because of the lack of food. You can see when a starter has peaked because it will have a dome shape on top.
• If you want to use freshly milled whole-grain flour, be sure to follow a recipe that calls for that. Freshly milled flour absorbs water at a different rate than store-bought flour.
• Starters peak in the 2-3 hour range after each feeding.
• Don’t skimp on the water that recipes call for. Sourdough recipes are wetter than traditional breads made with baker’s yeast. Use a kitchen scale for the most accurate measurements.
• Make the following alterations to all sourdough recipes:
  • In the beginning, stir together the starter, water, and half of the flour and let it sit for 10 minutes. (This rest time is called autolyse.)
  • Add the salt after all the remaining ingredients, knead briefly in a stand mixer (or by hand), and let it sit for 10 minutes.
  • When the dough is just pulling away from the sides of the mixer bowl, dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and let the dough rest for 10 minutes.
  • Knead by hand for 5 minutes (I like to make folds), then rest for five minutes. Repeat one more time.
• You can try the window-pane test. Grab a small ball of dough and roll it flat, then stretch it. If it stretches to the point where you can see through it (like a window pane) without breaking, it’s been kneaded enough. If it breaks, it needs more kneading.
• A digital scale and bench scraper are excellent tools for making sourdough often. I recommend investing in both once you’ve made your first loaf of sourdough bread and are committed to the process.

DURING THE FIRST AND SECOND RISE…

• The warmer the temperature, the quicker the dough will rise. Controlling the temperature allows you to be in greater control of when the dough will be ready, and in turn, when the bread will be ready.
  • The quicker the dough rises, the less sour the bread will be.
  • The longer the dough rises, the more sour the bread will be.
• The following methods will provide a consistent temperature for the bread to rise: a heating pad on low, in an oven with the light on, or in a dehydrator. Consider adjusting the temperature higher and lower to find the “sweet spot.” Using my heating pad on low gives me a rise time of 5-6 hours.
• Drier climates can benefit from using a damp kitchen towel to cover the dough as it proofs.
• It is possible for sourdough to over-rise. When baked, this dough will become flat discs. (You can still eat those as bread crumbs or croutons!)
• The vessel in which dough rises can limit the extent of the rise. Be sure to leave plenty of room for expansion. (I almost always use my large mixing bowl and cover the large bowl with a towel. You can also use specially made proofing baskets.)
• Sourdough will not necessarily double in size during the rise(s).
• Press your thumb into the dough to check if it needs more rise time. If the indentation stays, it’s done rising. If it springs back, it needs more time.
• Two rises will produce a more sour bread than a single rise.

WHEN IT’S BAKING…

• Baking sourdough bread in pans lined with a piece of parchment paper, or baking in a cast iron Dutch oven, provides more reliable results than free-shaped round loaves, especially if you’re just starting out.
• Right before baking, slash the top of the dough with a very sharp knife or razor blade, making a 2-3 inch cut just into the surface of the dough. This allows steam to escape.
• Adding a pan filled with boiling water on the lower rack of the oven adds moisture to the bread as it bakes.
• Let the bread cool completely before slicing. Slicing too soon will give you a gummy texture rather than a crumbly slice of bread.

If your sourdough bread fails despite repeated attempts, use the starter for other baked goods for a few weeks to a month. Meanwhile, feed the starter consistently to build up the concentration of the yeast.

RECIPES FOR USING LEFTOVER SOURDOUGH DISCARD

Once your sourdough starter is established, you’ll end up with extra starter, which you can pour off (a.k.a. discard) and keep in the fridge in a jar with a lid. You can use that discard in recipes too, so you’re not wasting food and getting some of the benefits of sourdough. These are my favorite sourdough discard recipes:

• Sourdough Pancakes
• Sourdough Biscuits
• Sourdough Waffles
• Make Sourdough Crackers with either starter or discard
• Turn any pizza dough recipe into sourdough pizza crust by subbing some discard for the water and flour in the recipe!

SOURDOUGH BREAD FAQS

SOURDOUGH RECIPES AND TUTORIALS

• Sourdough Pancakes
• Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe
• How to Make a Sourdough Starter
• Gluten Free Sourdough Starter
• Sourdough Biscuits
• Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
• Sourdough A to Z eCourse (plus recipe book!)