Most breads labeled as “sourdough” on the market today are anything but.
These fake sourdough breads typically contain yeast and/or a sweetener. This is an easy giveaway clue that the bread is a phony and should be avoided if one seeks a traditionally baked loaf.
True sourdough bread does not contain bakers yeast and instead utilizes a lactobacilli based starter culture. True sourdough bread is also baked at a lower temperature for a longer period of time which protects the integrity of the cereal grains and preserves the nutritional value. Not only is the nutritional value maintained, but anti-nutrients such as phytic acid are eliminated and gluten, that very difficult to digest plant protein, is broken down.
When baker’s yeast was first introduced as an alternative to sourdough starters in 1668 in France, it was strongly rejected because scientists at the time already knew that it would negatively impact people’s health.Â
While yeast is used almost universally for baking breads anymore, the skyrocketing cases of gluten intolerance and celiac disease are causing many to look backwards at how nonindustrialized peoples consumed gluten containing breads with no digestive difficulty.
One study that examined how celiacs tolerate true sourdough bread was conducted in Europe. 17 people suffering from celiac disease were given 2 grams of gluten containing bread risen with either baker’s yeast or a normal lactobacilli culture.  13 of the 17 showed negative changes in intestinal permeability consistent with celiac disease. 4 people did not show any negative changes.
Then, the 17 study participants were given true sourdough bread risen with a special lactobacilli culture able to hydrolyze the 33-mer peptide which is the primary amino acid building block that causes an immune response in people with celiac disease. None showed any negative changes in their intestinal permeability after consuming the bread which was made up of 30% wheat flour and a mix of oat, millet, and buckwheat flour.
The researchers’ conclusions were summarized as follows:
These results showed that a bread biotechnology that uses selected lactobacilli, nontoxic flours, and a long fermentation time is a novel tool for decreasing the level of gluten intolerance in humans.
What I find interesting about the study is that even when the people who consumed the gluten containing bread risen with either baker’s yeast or a normal lactobacilli culture, 4 did not show any negative changes to their baseline values of intestinal permeability.  Did these 4 consume bread raised with a normal lactobacilli culture? If so, perhaps even a normal sourdough culture would be sufficient for many celiacs to consume.
Certainly, most with simple gluten intolerance would find true sourdough bread to be easily consumed with no digestive distress.
Clearly, more study on this needs to be done, but the results are incredibly promising.
It seems that the noblemen in the court of Louis XIV of France back in 1668 had it right all along. Abandoning the traditional methods of bread preparation in favor of baker’s yeast would have disastrous effects on people’s health. Little did they know that their wisdom several centuries later would be termed “novel” by scientists in the biotechnology industry!
Sarah, The Healthy  Home Economist
Sources and More Information
Study Finds Wheat-based Sourdough Bread Tolerated by Celiac Patients
Einkorn Sourdough Crackers with Nut Butter
No-Knead Einkorn Sourdough Bread
The Good Gluten You Can Probably Eat Just Fine
The Real Reason Wheat is Toxic (It’s Not the Gluten)
Anne Luck via Facebook
Check out “wheat belly ” on Facebook, Dr. Davis claims it’s wheat that is causing all our health issues, I just purchased his book, looks good:)
Dawn
Thanks for all you do Sarah in educating people about real foods.
This is an interesting article, and of course, many of us that are gluten free would love to go back to eating crusty sourdough bread… but is trying it worth the risk? Thomas O’Bryan, MD (thedr.com) describes cases where people who were gluten-free went back onto gluten just to be officially tested for Celiac and then had major health setbacks with irreversible damage.
A big problem is that wheat has been hybridized to contain a LOT more gluten than it did 2000 years ago.
Gluten “intolerance” is not milder than Celiac or less sensitive to gluten, it is just manifesting in other ways. The immune system might not be attacking the gut, it might be attacking the thyroid, the brain, or the skin. And many Celiac’s do not have gut symptoms. For more info, check out the web site I mentioned above. Dr. O’Bryan is gluten intolerant.
Dawn
Whoops, my fingers slipped! Dr. O’Bryan is a DC, not an MD.
Margo McIntosh via Facebook
I would love to believe that sourdough gluten bread is safe but, as a celiac myself, I’m not sure I want to find out the hard way. Some celiacs have silent symptoms that don’t affect the bowel but create severe fatigue over time and I don’t want to go back there. :0)
shauna
I”m sorry to say that this piece is dangerous. From the comments it already appears that people are going to try eating sourdough bread if they have celiac.
I can’t say this clearly enough: even if made by a sourdough starter, bread made from wheat flour still contains wheat. It contains gluten. Sourdough bread will make someone with celiac sick.
A study of 17 people (17 people?!) is not nearly big enough to be statistically accurate for anything. Please, please don’t post something like this unless there is solid science.
Christy, you said that kneading the dough for 20 minutes “develops the gluten.” You’re right. It develops the gluten. Gluten.
It’s possible that those who are gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive might have fewer reactions to bread that is made from sourdough. However, for those who have celiac, only 1/8 of a teaspoon of gluten is enough to damage the intestines and set off the autoimmune reaction. And there are many with celiac who don’t have big outward symptoms. They could now go out and buy sourdough and be making themselves sick after reading this article.
Rebekkah Smith
Exactly! It’s not something you play around with! The reason most celiac cases are undiagnosed is because many have NO DIGESTIVE SYMPTOMS! It’s not a great indicator of what’s going on with your autoimmune responses.
makeing health
Every line of content is nice and helpful. thanks to Sarah.
Mary
Hi Sarah,
Is it ok to eat sourdough if it is made with white flour?
Thanks so much,
Mary
sgcr
Make your own sourdough’d white spelt, not wheat, and ferment/culture using the natural inherent wild yeast in the air and already on the flour for I’ve read 3 days to really break down the easier to digest gluten and carbs. as well.
[email protected]
Thank you for this article, Sarah! I used to make the Nourishing Traditions sourdough with Rye and Spelt ages ago. For about 2 years, I only made that bread, it was so easy. Then I transferred to all spelt. I wanted variety so began sprouting and making regular breads. Since then I have become gluten intolerant and never even thought about trying sourdough again! The key with sourdough is to make sure you wait until the starter is bubbly to use it in your baking. Timing is so key. Do not let it bubble and then go flat again. If you do, you need to feed it again, but don’t make bread with flat starter or else it will not rise. I got rid of all my wheat grains but I still have a huge bucket of spelt so I will incorporate this again! If anything, I remember sourdough being so easy, and I am the only GF one in the family, so at least so the family can have “normal” bread again! 🙂
Nickole
Michael Acanfora (@BayonneChiro) (@BayonneChiro) (@BayonneChiro)
Can Celiacs Eat True Sourdough Bread? – The Healthy Home Economist
http://ow.ly/6aE5Y
Tami berman
I learned how to make a starter and bread from a great online course at GNOWFGLINS.com. The subscription is good for a year and she really explained everything in detail with video demonstrations and the science behind it. You have to pour off some starter in the beginning so that the colony of yeast get’s stronger and the yeasts proliferate. I just divided mine and kept a few going at the same time. There were great recipes on the website for using your starter to make cakes and potpies, traditional pita, cookies, etc… There are also other lessons on traditional food prep. That you have access to with the subscription. It really helped me hone my kitchen skills. I bake fresh sourdough bread every week now. It’s delicious!
Good luck out there. It’s worth the effort to figure it out.