12/02/2020
Think you can’t eat gluten…. Think again.
If you or someone you know is sensitive to gluten you might be surprised to know that you may still be able to enjoy some wheat based breads.
My husband, Mark and I have been teaching Sourdough Bread Making and Fermented Foods Workshops for around 15 years. Over the years we have received overwhelming feedback from gluten sensitive people who are able to eat wheat bread, made using the authentic Sourdough method that we teach, with no symptoms. If you’ve been cutting out wheat for years this could be the answer you’re looking for. But be warned there are a lot of fake sourdoughs out there!
So why is sourdough more digestible?
Many years ago the only way to make bread was with a “mother” Sourdough Culture that was passed down through generations and shared throughout communities. These live bacteria cultures were made up of wild yeast species and broad range lactobacillus bacteria. These cultures not only made the bread rise, but the bacteria pre-digested the gluten content in the grain through a fermentation process called lacto-fermentation, making grain more easily digestible and the nutrients more available.
When bread became commercialised the sourdough method was forgotten. This was the start of all our problems with gluten. Our digestive systems just can't handle grain that has not been fermented first. This is why gluten intolerance and Coeliacs is a modern day disease. We stopped fermenting our grain.
These days wheat is sprayed with pesticides and herbicides, it's irradiated for long term storage, it’s processed so the wheat germ and bran are removed, it’s bleached, and worst of all, it's no longer fermented.
So is our problem wheat, or what we have done to it?
Major bread brands know that Sourdough is trending right now, and some have been busted adding vinegar to their loaves and calling it “sour” dough. This is completely deceiving as there is absolutely no lacto-fermentation taking place whatsoever. I assume that if the price tag is less than about $8.00 a loaf, it’s a fake. You can make your own authentic gourmet sourdough breads at home for under $.300 a loaf. It’s easy and fun too!
Baker’s yeast is one single bacteria species that was isolated, initially to brew beer, and later found to make bread rise quickly. So Bakers could say good-bye to the 4 – 6 hour proofing period used in the traditional sourdough method. This is the reason why authentic sourdough is more expensive than yeasted loaves.
Here at Health Kultcha, we are the proud owners of a 120 year old Ancient Sourdough “Mother” Culture that originates from Germany. “Mother” meaning that you buy it once and bake forever with it, then pass it down to your children.
Available online at www.healthkultcha.com.au and at all good health food stores around Australia.
