How Many Calories In Sourdough Bread

When You Slice Off A Piece Put It On The Scale

Weigh your homemade bread in grams, and then enter that weight as the number of servings in MyFitnessPal. Voila! Now you know exactly how many calories are in your delicious sourdough bread, no matter how large, small or oddly shaped it is.

This technique works for other baked goods that you can weigh post-baking, like focaccia, banana bread and crackersfor the latter, simply pile them in a bowl and weigh away!

And, obviously, it doesnt apply strictly to sourdough. You can use this technique to determine the calories in any homemade bread or other recipe where you can calculate the ingredients but may be able to divide into even portions.

Interested in more on sourdough baking? Check out my e-book, recently released in the Kindle store:

Calories In Sourdough Bread

Have you ever considered the calories in your homemade sourdough bread? Maybe you don’t need to . Like me, you eat several slices with reckless abandon.

But, if you do need to watch your calorie intake, understanding the calories in your homemade bread can be handy.

Now there are many apps and articles which approximate the calories in sourdough bread.

Most recipes have a nutrition panel which can be really handy – however it’s only accurate if you have used the exact measurements.

And even then, it won’t be indicative of the correct cooked weight of your sourdough bread or the unique ingredients used in your dough.

The USDA approximates that 100g of sourdough has approximately 289 calories.

And this is ok if you need a “round about” figure. But if you need something more accurate that takes into account your specific ingredients, you’ll need to understand how to make the calorie calculation manually.

You see, each website you visit will give you different calorie calculations.

Nutrionix suggests that there is 174 calories in one slice of sourdough bread, which is 64g.

So you can see that you really should calculate it yourself if you need an accurate measure.

Health Benefits Of Sourdough Bread According To A Dietitian

Here at EatingWell, we love our carbs. Not all carbs are created equally, but nutritious whole grains deserve a regular spot on your plate for a variety of reasons. In fact, whole grains, like quinoa, barley, oatmeal and popcorn, contribute valuable nutrients to your diet and can even help you lose weight. Several breads are packed with nutrition and can be part of a healthy diet, including sourdough bread. Sourdough bread had a moment when people were baking and cooking more at home, and this is for good reason. We dove into the research to find these impressive health benefits of sourdough bread.

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May Be Better For Blood Sugar Control

Sourdough bread may have a better effect on blood sugar and insulin levels than other types of bread, though scientists dont fully understand the reason for this.

Researchers believe that sourdough fermentation may change the structure of carb molecules. This reduces the breads glycemic index and slows down the speed at which sugars enter the bloodstream (

19 ).

The sourdough fermentation process is often used to make rye breads because rye does not contain enough gluten for bakers yeast to work effectively.

One study showed that participants who consumed rye bread had a lower spike in insulin levels than those who ate the same amount of conventional wheat bread .

In addition, several other studies have compared participants blood sugar increases after eating sourdough bread and bread fermented with bakers yeast.

Generally, participants who ate the sourdough bread had lower blood sugar and insulin levels than those who ate the breads fermented with bakers yeast .

Summary

Sourdough fermentation produces changes in the bread that may help control blood sugar better than bread made using traditional bakers yeast.

You can make fresh sourdough bread at home from three simple ingredients: water, flour, and salt.

Here is a quick overview of the steps required:

How To Make A Sourdough Starter

Making a sourdough starter is a commitment. It needs nurturing, feeding, and loving attention to yield the best results.

First, blend flour and water, to form a ‘starter’ or ‘mother’ and let nature take its course. Over the next 7 to 10 days, feed the starter with more flour and let the mix ferment.

The starter relies on naturally occurring yeasts and bacteria reproduction. These microorganisms create the bubbling, fermented starter that causes the dough to rise.

“The wild microorganisms prefer a more acidic environment than commercial yeast and takes longer to ferment the dough, so the bread develops a more complex, tart flavor. In actuality, sourdough fermentation is the oldest, original method of leavening dough, as commercially raised yeast is a relatively new phenomenon, less than 200 years old,” explains Reinhart.

Leo explains that “The mixture is ‘trained’ over time to encourage certain strains of wild yeasts and beneficial bacteria that live in symbiosis.” These starters are stable and harmonious communities that are personal and unique.

Reinhart says, “the future of bread lies in its past.” A baker can divide their healthy starter and share it with a friend. The new starter shares the ancestral lines of the original starter.

“If properly cared for, this mixture can live on indefinitely,” says Leo. Although there is no official record for the oldest starter, the Guardian reports a 120-year-old starter belonging to an 84-year-old Canadian.

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A Sourdough French Toast Recipe Perfect For A Weekend Brunch

Made with crusty sourdough bread, this sourdough French toast is complete with crispy edges and a fluffy centre just the way French toast should be. Grilled to perfection and topped with butter, maple syrup, and fresh berries, this recipe is perfect for a special occasion or a hearty weekend breakfast.

Its no secret that sourdough is the healthiest bread, which makes it a great option for this healthy French toast recipe however, if you dont have any sourdough bread you can easily use a sprouted grain bread or whole-grain bread instead.

More Healthy Breakfast Recipes:

Packaged Vs Homemade Sourdough

All these benefits apply only to real sourdough, made in this traditional way, howevernot to many commercial sourdough breads. Many commercial bakeries have abandoned the traditional sourdough process due to long fermentation times, says Hutkins. Instead, they add an acidic agent, like vinegar, for sour flavor, and speed up the process by using yeast to leaven the bread. This doesnt impart the benefits that sourdough made the slow-leavened way does because the microbes dont have time to work their magic. If you want authentic sourdough bread, youll have to do some consumer research and shop around a bit, or make it yourself,” he says.

How can you tell the difference? Check the ingredients list. Look for sourdough culture or starter and no yeast, says Scarlata. Or ask the bakery whether the bread is slow leavened for at least 8 to 24 hours.

Another distinction: Most packaged breads contain preservatives, but true sourdough naturally has a longer shelf life. Thats due in large part to the acids acting as antifungal agents, Hutkins says. In addition, sourdough is resistant to staling, which often is the reason why people toss otherwise healthy bread into the trash.

Stephanie Clarke

Stephanie Clarke, RD, is the founder of C& J Nutrition, a nutrition consulting, communications, and workplace wellness company. She lives in the Washington, D.C., suburbs of Maryland with her husband and two young daughters.

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Your Body Absorbs More Nutrients From Sourdough Bread

Bread of all types contains essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and iron. However, we can’t easily absorb these nutrients due to compounds called phytates, or phytic acid, that bind to them.

But sourdough, unlike other breads, contains lactic acid. This lactic acid neutralizes levels of phytates because it lowers the pH of the bread. As a result, sourdough bread has a higher level of available minerals and up to 62% less phytic acid than conventional bread.

Leo says that lactic acid also “increases the bioavailability of the ingredients,” which means that nutrients from the bread are more quickly and readily available for your body to use.

How Many Carbs In A Slice Of Sourdough Bread

While calories are important, sometimes you need to know the carbohydrates contained in a slice of sourdough bread.

Sourdough is not lower in carbohydrates, despite the fact that as a fermented product, it makes digesting the bread much easier.

On average, a 64g slice of sourdough bread will contain 33g of carbohydrate.

This will be increased if you make flavored sourdough bread.

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Alternatives To Sourdough Bread On A Low Carb Diet

You may decide that bread is just too complicated as part of a low carb diet. At the end of the day, it can be enjoyed, but only with careful planning.

If this isnt for you and youre looking for an alternative, here is a list of other foods that can help fill the bread gap in your diet:

#1 Make a keto friendly bread at home

There are low carb bread recipes available online that are made with ingredients such almond flour instead of wheat like this one.They will be far lower in carbs than any other breads, including sourdough breads.

#2 Learn to live without it!

I know it sounds harsh, but sometimes its just a matter of getting used to eating in a different way. We see bread as a crucial part of our diets, but there are many other ways to enjoy food that doesnt involve bread.

#3 Use alternatives

Other alternatives that can be used instead of breads in your meal are:

• lettuce leaves
• portobello mushrooms

#4 Have smaller portions

Many people on a low carb diet assume that bread is completely out of the question, but they forget that you are indeed allowed up to 100 grams of carbohydrates a day. So if you really need that bit of bread to make your day better, then plan to have a small enough portion of it so that it stays within your limit of carbs per day.

The Hidden Benefits Of Sourdough Bread

Similar to other fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kefir and pickles, sourdough bread is fermented by using lactobacillus cultures, which are gut-healthy probiotics.

The cultures dont survive the baking process , but lactic acid is created , and that does the body a whole lot of good.

Lactic acid helps decrease the levels of phytic acid in sourdough bread. . This in turn, helps other nutrients become more readily available, and easier to digest and absorb. Teamwork makes the dream work.

But theres more. Not only does sourdough work to keep your gut healthy, but its also good for your heart and helps to ward off cancer. You read that right. In studies of older adults living in the southern Mediterranean, those who regularly ate whole-grain sourdough bread had a lower risk of developing heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Talk about a triple whammy of health benefits!

However, before you run to the bakery, remember, sourdough bread is well bread. Im guessing you didnt need me to tell you that.

As I like to remind all of my clients, too much of anything is never a good thing. If youre gonna eat a slice of bread with your next meal, consider making the switch from your sugary, preservative-laden, packaged version to tangy, crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside sourdough.

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It Is Good For Your Gut

The fermentation process for sourdough bread can lead to an increased number of prebiotic and probiotic-like properties, which help improve gut health. An animal study out of the University of Eastern Finland found that sourdough bread made with rye flour increased the number of good gut bacteria compared to white bread with rye flour. Look for sourdough bread made with whole grains, which are higher in fiber than processed grains, giving your bread additional gut-friendly benefits.

How Many Carbohydrates Does Sourdough Bread Contain

As mentioned earlier, sourdough bread will have less calories and carbohydrates than their conventional bread counterparts due to the consumption of starches and sugars at the fermentation stage of making sourdough bread. But some sourdough breads will still be considered too high carb for someone restricting their carbohyrate intake to ketogenic levels.

Heres a comparison table of the total number of carbohydrates found in conventional breads compared to the sourdough version of the same bread.

These are numbers for total carbohydrates, but this is not the only count you need to look at.

When trying to figure out actual carbohydrate intake, its actually not as simple as reading the carbohydrate number on the back of the pack. Fiber is an important factor for calculating what your true net carbohydrate intake is.

How to Calculate Net Carbohydrate Intake

Simply take the number of grams of fiber, and take it away from the number of carbohydrates. This will give you the net carbohydrate intake that will count towards your daily limit.

For example if a nutritional label says:

This would mean the net carbohydrate intake is 30g

Heres a table with the NET CARBOHYDRATE INTAKE of each sourdough bread type:

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Calculating Calories In Homemade Sourdough Bread

So, how do you calculate the calories in homemade sourdough bread?

It’s not as difficult as it sounds.

First, you need to know exactly what you have put into your sourdough bread dough.

This calculation can be handy if you’re making flavored sourdough bread too as you can accurately calculate the calories for all the ingredients, not just the flour.

Now the trick to calculating the calories in sourdough bread is that you need to know the weight of the dough before baking and after.

This is because sourdough will lose some of its weight during the baking process as the water is baked out.

In fact, you need to wait until the sourdough has cooled to room temp before weighing as it will continue to lose weight until cooled. Sourdough really is amazing!

Here are the steps to follow to calculate the calories in sourdough bread :

This has calculated that this honey oat sourdough bread has 3 calories per gram of sourdough.

It Promotes Healthy Aging

Whole grains and bread, like sourdough bread, are a staple of the Mediterranean diet. Some research has pointed out it could be a crucial food to help promote healthy aging. A study in Aging Clinical & Experimental Researchfound that habitual consumption of whole-wheat sourdough bread contributed to lower risk of heart diseases, diabetes and cancer for older adults in the Southern Mediterranean.

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It Can Lead To Better Digestion

Even though sourdough bread is not gluten free, one study found that regular sourdough consumption might help improve the digestion of gluten. The fermentation process for sourdough alters the enzymes in the wheat and might potentially help counteract adverse reactions to gluten. It’s too soon to recommend sourdough bread to people with celiac disease but people who feel sensitive to gluten may want to talk to their doctor or a dietitian to see if they might be able to enjoy sourdough bread. Other studies have found that the lactic-acid bacteria in sourdough might even help moderate allergic responses, inflammation and auto-immune diseases.

Is Sourdough Bread Low Carb

Sourdough bread is known for being one the healthiest types of bread you can eat, but if youre on a low carb diet, there are certain healthy foods that are on the forbidden list. I have a few friends who are on the ketogenic diet, who wanted to know if they could enjoy my homemade sourdough bread, so I did a little digging to find out.

Is sourdough bread considered a low carb food? Sourdough bread contains less calories and carbohydrates than other breads like for like, because some of the starches and sugars are consumed during the fermentation period. However, for anyone trying to restrict their carbohydrate intake, it is still high in carbohydrates when compared to other foods such as vegetables.

It really depends on which type of sourdough bread is consumed, some small slices contain as little as 10g of carbohydrates per slice, which is about the same amount as low carb breads on the market.

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