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Sourdough Organic Whole Grain Bread Is Fabulous & Nutritious. It Keeps Us Green Too

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It's A Green Thing. Sourdough Organic Whole Grain Wheat Bread: Is It Really That Good & Good For Your Health?


Organica Research Better Health, Naturally
Do you love sourdough bread? Well it should be whole grain too, which will not effect the sourdough flavor.
We all know that whole grain bread is more healthy than other breads. And if it is organic it assures us that there are no "genetically modified organisms (GMOs) pesticides & chemicals in the flour. But did you know that sourdough bread is good for our health also. So if we combine the two, we should have a super food in bread. When you love sourdough you love that special sour, tasty flavor. Eating sourdough bread helps keep you green and healthy, and our world too, when it is organic.

Flavor, health and green are all important, aren't they.

So let's take a quick trip into baking sourdough bread.

  • a quick history of making bread, because it's important to understanding the way we bake our breads commercially today,

  • look at the importance of sourdough & whole grains in our diet,

  • what are sourdough starters, & why are they are so important to flavor

  • how they make sourdough bread different from other bread,

  • the important health benefits of sourdough & whole grain bread


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Not All Sourdough Is Created Equal When It Comes To Flavor Is it?

Sourdough bread can be tasty and tangy and healthy. Whole grain adds to the health benefits. Have you found bland-tasting sourdough bread. I have. Let me know if you have found a really good, flavorful sourdough bread.

  • River_Rose Dec 19, 2011 @ 10:57 am | delete
    Great lens ! I am hungry !
  • miaponzo Jan 2, 2011 @ 11:13 pm | delete
    Thanks for this great info! I always eat sourdough, but when I tried to make it myself the sourdough didn't turn out!
  • Locally Leavened Jan 3, 2011 @ 9:03 am | delete
    One great site that might help you in learning to bake with sourdough is www.thefreshloaf.com. It has a discussion board (And one category devoted specifically to sourdough) with many expert bakers who are eager to help those just starting out. Sourdough baking is not difficult - only daunting to those who are unfamiliar with the process. Once you get the hang of it, it's really no different from baking yeasted breads.
  • Locally Leavened Jan 3, 2011 @ 9:04 am | delete
    One great site that might help you in learning to bake with sourdough is www.thefreshloaf.com. It has a discussion board (And one category devoted specifically to sourdough) with many expert bakers who are eager to help those just starting out. Sourdough baking is not difficult - only daunting to those who are unfamiliar with the process. Once you get the hang of it, it's really no different from baking yeasted breads.
  • Locally Leavened Jul 12, 2010 @ 12:06 pm | delete
    I operate a small specialty bakery in Whitefish, MT, and bake breads from 100% whole grain, freshly-ground flours, using sourdough as the only leavening agent (no commercial yeast). This is a question I run into quite often. People have a misconception that "sourdough" refers to a type of white bread, rather than that sourdough is simply a type of leavening, whether made from whole grain or white flours. In my opinion, and in the opinion of my loyal customers, whole grain sourdough breads have a complexity of flavor that is incomparable to most breads. The sourdough flavor actually enhances the flavor and texture of the whole grains, rendering a hearty, wholesome bread that is at once delicious, easily digestible and truly sustaining.
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What's Going Here

Raw Bakery
First a little history. The Egyptians apparently were the first to discover the process of leavening bread somewhere around 2300 BC. Prior to 1950, bread dough was fermented slowly all night long before baking. The long fermentation period, using whole grain flour created a bread product that contained 18 amino acids (proteins), complex carbohydrate (for energy), B vitamins, iron, zinc, selenium, magnesium, and maltase.

Sounds healthy, and it is the long fermentation period that is the critical part of this good, healthy bread.

Then in the 1950s, larger bakery companies decided to begin shorter fermentation periods. A quick loaf of bread could be prepared in just a few hours, instead of overnight, thus eliminating a night shift of bakers, which led to higher profits. Today, some commercial bakeries produce a loaf of bread in just 40 minutes. What most of us don't realize is that bread that is not properly fermented, at least overnight, becomes a highly allergenic food.

Sourdough bread that is properly leavened over a 6 to 8 hour period, will have yeast spores, lactobacilli and friendly bacteria drawn into the sourdough starter and whole wheat flour from the air. Mixing the starter with more flour and water and a little salt forms bread dough. As the bacteria thrives on the nutrient-rich whole grain flour, they produce carbon dioxide gas.

As fermentation continues, during the leavening process bacteria feed on the sugars in flour, and produce acidic by-products. This is what gives sourdough its sour taste. This taste is further enhanced because the predominant yeast in sourdough, ''Saccharomyces exiguus", cannot metabolize maltose, one of the sugars present in flour. However, the bacteria need maltose to survive and thrive, so there is a synergistic relationship between the yeast and bacteria since the bacteria will have more maltose to feed on during the fermentation process. The longer the process the greater the tangy flavor, and health effects.

Health benefits of sour dough bread, white of whole wheat, are surprising. A university research study was conducted on four types of breads to determine which had the most positive health effects when it comes to carbohydrate metabolism, blood sugar and insulin levels.

The breads included, white, whole wheat, whole wheat with barley and sourdough. The persons included in the study, were overweight and between 50 and 60 years of age. The most positive results in terms of blood sugar levels occured after eating sourdough white bread, and the effect lasted longer than after eating the other breads. Blood sugar levels did not spike after eating the sourdough bread, which it did with the other breads.
This led the researchers to conclude that eating sourdough bread assists in controlling weight. They also concluded that eating whole grain bread is more healthy then eating whole wheat bread, since some of the most beneficial parts of the grain are removed when baking whole wheat.
My favorite whole grain bakery is the Great Harvest Bread Company, and their grains are organic too. They bake whole grain sourdough bread. Check out their website, they have stores in a number of states, including Colorado and California.

My Other Health, Diet and Nutrition Lens Sites

The Green Guy researches health, diet and nutrition issues, and then writes articles about his information. Check out his other sites:
http://www.squidoo.com/antioxidents-freeradicals/
http://www.squidoo.com/dquentinhealth/
http://www.squidoo.com/groups/healthybreakfasfoods
http://www.squidoo.com/naturalhealthconcepts/
http://healthyenergynow.blogspot.com/

The Best of Sourdough Bread

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Health Benefits of Whole Grain Sourdough Bread

Discover the health benefits of whole grain sourdough bread. They include:


  • weight loss

  • reduces the risk of coronary heart disease

  • improves eliminations

  • lowers LDL cholesterol

  • less risk of type 2 diabetes

  • lowers risk of digestive cancers

  • risk of stroke declines

White Sourdough or Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

I like whole grain wheat sourdough bread although not as common as the white version. The health benefits are greater with the whole grain wheat flour and I think it enhances the flavor of the sourdough. What do you think.

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Sourdough & Whole Grain Bread

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The Green Guy, aka, D. Quentin Webb, Ph.D., earned three university degrees, not online, during eight years of university studies. This background pro... more »

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