I grew up in Germany and Rye Bread was pretty much on the daily menu. We had it for breakfast, and my mother used it to prepare very tasty sandwiches for me and my brother to take to school. It certainly did not cause any digestive issues but was nourishing and filling.
Fast forward to the mid eighties when I moved to the UK and was confronted with what I call white floppy bread I found that I could not eat it without bloating. I put it down to the fact that I was not used to white/wheat bread and stopped eating bread altogether until I opened my own bakery in the late nineties.
Eventually I found out the reason why Rye Bread back home didn’t cause me any problems. It was not the fact that it was Rye Bread but the fact that it was sourdough.
Let me explain why sourdough is easier to digest.
It takes 48 hours to make sourdough. First a starter dough gets made which requires 24 hours to rest. After that the starter dough gets used to make the main bread dough which gets to rest again for a further 24 hours. At first in bulk and then as individually shaped loaves.
I have no intention on writing a scientific paper with this journal entry, but I will give you some scientifically proven facts.
The university of Hohenheim in Germany have proven, that the time bread dough is given to swell (absorption of water) and to ferment is the key to easier digestion.
Without sufficient time, the short chain carbohydrates (also called FODMAPs) contained in bread dough cannot break down. In other words, a bread that was given only a short amount of time to rest and ferment before baking will contain lots of these short chain carbohydrates. They are much harder to break down in the small intestine and subsequently end up undigested or only partly digested in the large intestine where they cause bloating and discomfort. This can be a huge issue for people with IBS.
The university have established that the minimum time required for the dough rest is four hours. Interestingly after one hours rest FODMAPs are at their peak. (Think industrial and most yeasted breads here)
As explained above, it takes 48 hours to make sourdough during which the dough has had time to swell and with the help of lactic acid contained in sourdough break down these hard to digest sugars.
Of course, the added benefit of this process is the development of the heavenly flavour that makes sourdough just so irresistible and a delight to eat.
Reflecting on all this I believe we have the answers as to why there is so much fake sourdough out there. It isn’t necessarily a lack of skill, but a lack of time and space required for what is undoubtedly a labour of love. Subjects I will touch upon in further journals to come.
In the meantime, I sign off with a slightly adapted saying from Germany.
Mehl, Wasser und Salz….. Gott erhalts.
