Does sourdough bread have gluten?
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Must-Know Facts About Sourdough Bread and Gluten
The vast majority of sourdough bread — including anything you can buy in the store, unless it’s specifically labeled “gluten-free — is made with wheat flour. Wheat, of course, is the primary gluten grain.
To make homemade sourdough bread, you add a starter culture — usually made up of various yeast strains plus lactobacilli, which are forms of friendly bacteria — to the bread dough you made with flour. Then you let the whole mixture sit until the dough rises, and proceed with baking your bread.
This starter culture makes the dough rise like conventional baker’s yeast does. Both conventional baker’s yeast and sourdough starter cause fermentation in the dough mixture. The gas byproducts of fermentation are what causes the dough to rise. However, the wild yeast strains and lactobacilli in the sourdough impart a denser feel and a sour taste to the bread…hence the term “sourdough.” True sourdough bread tastes nothing like regular white bread.
Can You Eat Sourdough Bread on a Gluten-Free Diet?
For many people who have to switch to a gluten-free diet, saying good-bye to bread is like parting ways with an old friend.
Various gluten-free breads are available, but due to their taste and texture differences, most don’t fill the void.
Sourdough breads have been touted as a safe option for those who avoid gluten. Many claim that the gluten in wheat sourdough or rye bread is broken down and easier to digest than conventionally produced bread.
This article examines whether sourdough is a good option if you’re on a gluten-free diet.
Gluten in sourdough bread
Gluten is the name for a group of proteins found in wheat, rye, and barley. It causes damage to the intestinal lining in those with celiac disease. So, it’s essential to avoid all sources of gluten if you have this condition.
Those with a gluten sensitivity or wheat allergy should also avoid gluten and wheat-containing foods.
The main ingredient in sourdough bread is usually wheat flour — which contains gluten.
While one lab analysis of the gluten in wheat sourdough bread has shown that it has less gluten than other types of wheat bread, the amount can vary.
This means there may still be unsafe levels of gluten in regular wheat sourdough bread.
However, gluten-free sourdough varieties, which are made from gluten-free flours like rice, sorghum, or teff, are available.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires all products that are labeled gluten-free to have a gluten content below 20 parts per million (ppm).
Effect of fermentation on gluten
Sourdough and regular bread are leavening differently.
While regular bread is leavening with packaged yeast, sourdough bread is leavening with Lactobacillus bacteria and wild yeasts.
This mixture of bacteria and wild yeast calls a sourdough starter. It makes by mixing flour and water and letting it sit until microbes move in and ferment it.
During fermentation, these organisms digest the starches in the dough and produce lactic acid and carbon dioxide.
Fermentation gives sourdough its distinctive sour flavor and light, airy texture.
Why Some Gluten-Sensitive People Can Still Eat Sourdough Bread
Humans have eaten sourdough since the ancient Egyptians were grinding grains and leavening bread thousands of years ago. But as a child of the ’80s, I grew up on processed white bread so soft it practically made chewing unnecessary.
As an adult I’ve had to part ways with the bread of my childhood. I could no longer digest the commercially processed stuff. But, unfortunately, most of the whole grain loaves I picked up from the bakery weren’t any easier on my stomach.
Then I found sourdough.
The fermentation process that gives the bread its distinctive sour taste also makes it more gut-friendly. Millions of people are suffering from digestive malaise, and if you’re sensitive to foods containing gluten or have irritable bowel syndrome, sourdough bacteria’s ability to break down flour has never been more important, says Vanessa Kimbell, who’s been baking since she was 11 and runs The Sourdough School in the UK.
“The same microbes that are in the soil are the same microbes that are in that pot of sourdough starter, which are the same microbes that are in our gut,” Kimbell says.
I have endometriosis, an inflammatory condition that not only affects my reproductive organs but also takes a toll on my digestive tract. So when I eat certain foods—like quickly leavened bread—my stomach suffers.
I switched to sourdough when a gastroenterologist suggested I try to ease my constant abdominal cramping and bloating with the low-FODMAP diet. Researchers at Monash University in Australia designed the six-to-eight week elimination plan to ease symptoms for those with irritable bowel syndrome, but research shows it might help those with endometriosis as well.
FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols—poorly absorbed sugars and fibers found in certain grains, fruits, and vegetables, along with some dairy products and artificial sweeteners.
When these carbohydrates—like those found in wheat—are fermented by bacteria, they produce gas and attract water when they pass through the gut, causing the bowel to stretch, says Jane Varney, senior research dietitian at Monash University.
If you have a normal gut, this stretching and expanding isn’t a problem. But those with IBS sometimes have visceral hypersensitivity, Varney says. Simply put, if you have a sensitive gut, this extra water and gas can cause you more pain than your digestively blessed friend who just ate the same whole wheat sandwich.
Approved For Those With Gluten Sensitivity
If you follow a gluten-free diet, whether it’s because of non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) or for other health reasons, a good slice of bread may be one of the main things you miss from your previous diet. But science shows that you may not have to miss out after all, and sourdough bread might be your solution!
First let’s take a look at sourdough bread and what makes it so different from other breads. Sourdough bread (the traditional way of making gluten-containing bread prior to the mid 1600’s), instead of baker’s yeast, is making with a starter culture rich in Lactobacilli bacteria.
Why is this so important? Lactobacilli, besides being great for the gut microbiome, makes the bread more nutrient rich by neutralizing the undesirable phosphorus, or phytic acid, found in the wheat’s bran. (Studies show that sourdough fermentation can neutralize phytic acid by up to 90%). Phytic acid in conventional bread binds to important minerals like calcium, zinc, iron, and magnesium, making these nutrients bio-unavailable to us, meaning we are unable to absorb them.
Sourdough bread is also baking at a low temperature, which helps preserve the nutritional value of the grain, and for a longer period of time, which aids in breaking down the gluten protein. Being a fermenting food, sourdough is rich in prebiotic and probiotic bacteria, acting as a positive aid in balancing the microbiome.
A study published in Applied and Environmental Biology was conducted in celiac patients to observe. How well they tolerated sourdough bread. The study consisted of 17 celiac patients and two phases. In the first phase, participants were given 2 grams of gluten-containing bread baked with either baker’s yeast or a normal lactobacilli culture (which isn’t considered true sourdough). 13 out of the 17 experienced increased intestinal permeability, a hallmark of consuming gluten in celiac patients.
In the second phase, all participants were given 2 grams of a bread prepared with a true sourdough starter, categorized as a lactobacilli-rich culture able to break down the primary protein building block that triggers an immune response in those with celiac disease. The bread consisted of one-third wheat flour, and a mixture of oat, millet, and buckwheat flours. Surprisingly, increased intestinal permeability was not observed in any of the participants.
While this study is promising, the sourdough starter used in this study is not commercially available.Therefore celiac patients are not cleared to consume sourdough breads.
Other recent studies published in 2018 and 2019 highlight the idea that:
FODMAPs (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides And Polyols). It means that not gluten, are the problematic factor in gluten-containing foods for some patients with irritable bowel syndrome, NCGS, and other functional GI conditions, and that true sourdough products, which are naturally low in FODMAPs, might be a desirable replacement for conventional gluten-containing products.
Whether it’s FODMAPs and/or gluten that are problematic in this population, “true” sourdough seems to tolerate with no physiological or biological symptoms experienced.
If you’re someone with NCGS, which estimate at approximately 10 to 15% of the worldwide population and growing. If you’re on a gluten-free diet for other health reasons (excluding celiac disease). You can most likely enjoy a “true” sourdough bread from time to time with no issues. While sourdough breads made with an optimal starter contain beneficial bacteria, are more nutrient dense. They have lower gluten and FODMAP concentrations than other breads. It’s still bread (exponentially inferior to vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds) and should be consumed in moderation.
The breads available at your local supermarket (even those labeled organic) are most likely not made with a high quality sourdough starter, and should be avoided. And remember, those with celiac disease should avoid ALL sourdough breads until more research is conducted.
If you want to try a high quality sourdough bread, we recommend baking one at home with a true sourdough starter instead of purchasing one from a bakery or supermarket. The nutritional and microbial benefits will be worth it!
