9 Reasons To Use Sourdough In Your Baking

Isn’t Instant Yeast more convenient than sourdough? Today I want to convince you otherwise… with these 9 reasons to use sourdough in your baking!

You can’t get more Biblical or natural than using sourdough in your kitchen!

In this post, I’m sharing 9 reasons you might consider using sourdough for your family’s daily bread and more… The reasons may surprise you!

First though, I have to explain what “sourdough” is.

What is sourdough?

Almost anything you bake can be made with sourdough… and any real sourdough begins with a sourdough starter.

This “starter” or Mother Culture is a batter of flour and water, yet it’s much more than that. If you looked at it under a microscope, you’d see a flourishing and active colony of beneficial organisms (yeast and bacteria)… that when mixed with flour and given time to “sour”… rises your baked goods and makes them more healthy… and delicious!

Check out our sourdough archives for gobs of free recipes and sourdough tips!

9 Reasons to Use Sourdough in Your Baking

Here are 9 reasons you might consider using sourdough in your kitchen.

1. Sourdough honors God.

The Bible mentions leavened bread, yet Instant Yeast didn’t exist back then. They must have been using sourdough!

So when you use sourdough in your kitchen, you’re going back to the old way… á la Bible Times. In our family, we love doing sourdough first and foremost because we’re honoring God and His design!

2. It’s natural yeast.

No need for store-bought Instant Yeast! Not only does Instant Yeast NOT yield the health benefits of sourdough, you have to keep buying it… whereas if you’re baking anyway, you’ll always have flour and water to maintain a sourdough starter.

3. It’s simple.

A sourdough starter is just flour and water, and to keep it alive, you mix in a bit more of each, called a feeding, on a regular schedule.

Some people keep their sourdough starter on the counter and feed it once or twice a day, but it can be even easier than that if you need it. Keep it in the fridge on “break” for a week at a time, then bring it out and feed it when you want to bake. This is most often what I do, as I share in these two articles: my daily sourdough routine and daily and weekly sourdough routines with einkorn. 🙂

4. Easier to digest.

Sourdough “pre-digests” gluten, and it’s especially beneficial if you combine sourdough with ancient grains like spelt or einkorn that have gentler forms of gluten and starch.

It’s gentler on the tummy for those who might have trouble with digestion (bloat, cramps, etc.), and lower on the glycemic index for diabetics (read more, below).

You can also make gluten-free sourdough baked goods for those who are sensitive to gluten. Here’s how to start a gluten-free sourdough starter, plus gluten-free sourdough basics to help you hit the ground running!

5. Reduces carb count in flours.

You see, the organisms in the starter eat the sugars and starches in flour, which changes the impact sourdough bread has on blood sugar levels.

We categorize this impact as high, medium, or low glycemic index (with low being best)… and sourdough can move a bread from high to low glycemic index. It’s quite remarkable!

I also saw research that suggested that the beneficial acids in sourdough (produced by the beneficial organisms in the starter) can help with blood sugar and digestion, too.

Read more about sourdough bread being lower glycemic here.

6. More nutritious.

The process of sourdough neutralizes or reduce anti-nutrients in grains such as phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, and lectins. These anti-nutrients cause digestive issues or lead to mineral deficiencies. So it’s a very good thing to reduce or eliminate them during the sourdough process.

Do keep in mind that only true sourdough recipes, such as the ones on our website, in our courses, or in our books, accomplish this, and for 2 reasons…

1. because all the flour in the recipe gets “worked on” by the sourdough starter (no extra flour added in later), and…
2. our recipes allow for a long enough souring time for the starter to work its magic.

I discuss whether store-bought sourdough is “true” sourdough with all of these benefits here!

7. Lasts longer.

The process of “souring” dough using a sourdough starter produces acids, especially vinegar. Vinegar is a natural preservative, and the key reason why sourdough bread lasts longer than non-sourdough bread.

I do still recommend freezing what you don’t eat within a day or two, though. It’s practically just like fresh when thawed!

8. So versatile.

You can make ALL your family’s baked goods with sourdough, even using gluten-free flours. Obviously, sourdough bread and English muffins (pictured above), but also cookies, cinnamon rolls, chocolate cake, pancakes, waffles, donuts, and even more, like these 30+ sourdough dessert recipes!

No one will be bored and you can rest easy knowing your homemade sourdough baked goods are healthier (and more delicious) than anything you could buy!

Visit our sourdough archives for many more tried-and-true sourdough recipes!

9. Great flavor.

No, sourdough baked goods *don’t* have to be sour! Unless that’s your preference! 😉

You can have pucker your lips oh-so-sour sourdough bread to more mild cinnamon rolls… to suit practically everyone’s preferences. It’s all in the ratio, the souring time, and the other ingredients used.

Are you convinced by these reasons to use sourdough? Why wait? You are literally 5 minutes away from starting your own sourdough starter! Download my free sourdough starter how-to instructions here!