Why should bread be sourdough instead?

Looking back over the past few years, we can say that our bread consumption habits have changed for the better. By this we mean that more and more people are opting for sourdough breads and pastries and are abandoning yeast products.

By the way, one of the very few benefits of the Covid pandemic was clearly that more and more people tried home baking with sourdough during the quarantine period. It's safe to say that making sourdough bread at home became a fashion, with videos showing how to feed sourdough, prepare sourdough bread and then bake it spreading like wildfire.

However, let's not get our hopes up: the above does not mean that sourdough bread has taken over, because it is more expensive than its yeast counterpart, but in many cases it looks better (although many would argue that it is).

So let's take a closer look at the basic differences between yeast and sourdough breads!

Let's start with the fact that sourdough bread making was the most common bread making technique, and until about 100 years ago it was the only bread making technique. In rural Hungary, even in the 1950s and 1960s, a rural family would make a large loaf of bread at home at the beginning of the week, using sourdough, of course, which they would take to the local bakery, where it would be baked in an oven, and then, on their return home, the family could eat the bread for at least a week. And so we come to the first major difference, which is shelf life. Bread made with yeast loses its freshness much more quickly, dries out quickly, dries out and even moulds, so that after a few days it is no longer eaten. In contrast, sourdough bread has a much longer shelf life, up to a week, thanks to the secret of the acetic acid in the sourdough.

As the world began to speed up, yeast breads came to the fore and spread, for the simple reason that they were much quicker to make than sourdough bread. However, this was also a disadvantage. Although yeast makes the dough rise faster, it actually makes the dough softer and bulkier, and the proteins that make up the dough are left intact (not broken down) to a much greater extent, which is a strain on the body to digest. In addition, gluten is a known and dangerous allergen that can aggravate the symptoms of certain digestive diseases, even to a significant degree.

What happens when making sourdough bread? The leaven is essentially a mixture of water and flour, into which micro-organisms are naturally introduced from the air and multiply during a relatively long fermentation process. During this process, the micro-organisms start to break down the carbohydrate and protein components of the dough, making it much easier to digest. Because sourdough bread also breaks down carbohydrates during the long aging process, it does not raise blood sugar levels as much and can make you feel full for much longer.

To sum up, sourdough bread is much less stressful on the digestive system than yeast bread.

If you fancy a taste of sourdough bread, come and visit us at KIOSK, where we offer you real sourdough bread, served as an appetizer with butter and extra virgin olive oil.