Sourdough & Sprouted Breads

Why you should eat sprouted grains or sourdough bread?

One of the reasons that I started using sprouted grains and sourdough was my daughter Maci. She had terrible intestinal pain every time she ate. She had terrible gas and bloating and was pretty much miserable. We had gone to doctors and that did not help. So I started to do research on my own and found a wealth of information. This is the result. Maci has been pain free for 3 years. No pain gas or bloating and she is completely healed. Here is one of the things that helped tremendously. Sprouted grains.

I have found most bodies struggle to digest grains. Yet these same bodies flourish with grains that had been sprouted.

Did you know that sprouted flours are digested by the body as a vegetable not as a starch? Who says this? In 2008 the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) ruled that sprouted grains are more akin to vegetables than to whole grain. This is why sprouted bread and sourdough is one of the only low glycemic breads around. The body doesn’t struggle to digest it. Digests like a vegetable. Good stuff to know.

The process of sprouting not only produces vitamin C, it changes the composition of the grain in numerous ways that make it more beneficial as a food. For example, sprouting increases the content of such vitamins as vitamin B, B2, B5 and B6. Carotene, which is converted to vitamin A, increases dramatically – sometimes eight-fold.

Phytic acid, which is a known mineral blocker, is broken down in the sprouting process. Phytic acid is present in the bran of all grains, the coating of nuts and seeds and inhibits the absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc. These inhibitors can neutralize our own digestive enzymes, resulting in the digestive disorders experienced by many people that eat unsprouted grains. Complex sugars responsible for intestinal gas are broken down during sprouting and a portion of the starch in grain is transformed into sugar. Sprouting also inactivates aflatoxins, which are toxins produced by fungus and are potent carcinogens found in grains.

One of the other wonderful benefits is that sprouted grains are considered low glycemic. The pancreas needs huge amounts of B vitamins to digest grains. Once a grain has been sprouted most bodies recognize it as a vegetable rather than a starch which requires vegetable enzymes not  pancreatic enzymes. Therefore eating sprouted grains does not stress the pancreas.

You can find sprouted bread in the freezer section at heath food and many grocery stores. My favorite is Alvarado Spouted Flax Bread and  Alvarado Sourdough Spouted bread. You can even sprout your on grains as I do and make your own flour for making all kind of delicious things, but than that is a whole other article.

Sourdough Bread

When you use a sourdough starter to make bread it deactives the inhibitors and increases bioavalibilty of nutrients just as sprouting does only through a starter cultures that is loaded with good bacteria and yeast. Also it imparts a delicious flavor like nothing else.
I also like that instead of commercial made yeast you use yeast that has all the benefits of years of developing lactobacilli and many other healthy organisms. It also makes as does sprouting a low glycemic bread  healthy for all.
Commercial yeast is a single kind of organism that belches a lot of gas really fast and transforms grain into something that’s even less good for you. Sourdough is two organisms, wild yeast and bacteria, in symbiosis. Together they transform the grain to make it more healthful, more digestible, and also resistant to getting moldy or stale. Many people with wheat allergies or “yeast” allergies have no problem eating real sourdough.

Making sourdough bread is hands down my favorite cultured food to make. Although it has taken me the longest to figure out. I never cease to smile when I take a loaf out of the oven. You will love it and so will your family.

Where to get a sourdough cultures