Bread is a common food throughout the world, despite its negative reputation when it comes to health in general, especially blood glucose levels. People with diabetes should eat it in moderation, and even then, they could end up with blood sugar spike after finishing their meal.
Still, just because you have diabetes, it doesn’t mean you should cut out bread from your diet. In one of our articles, we talked about the best type of bread for your blood glucose levels – homemade sourdough bread.
In this article, we will tell you how to make it at home and enjoy it without worrying about your blood sugar levels. But first, let’s remind you why this bread is better than other breads for your blood glucose.
Why Sourdough Bread Is Better Than Other Breads
Instead of baker’s yeast, the traditional recipes for this homemade sourdough bread require wild yeast and lactic acid. This lactic acid bacteria are the same good bacteria as that found in yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, pickles, sauerkraut, and other fermented foods.
The starter begins to ferment the dough sugars, breaking down the components and altering the entire molecular structure, eventually producing lactic acid and lactobacilli.
One research shows that people who ate sourdough bread had lower blood glucose and insulin response than those eating standard bread with baker’s yeast.
Besides improving the blood sugar control, this homemade sourdough bread is more nutritious than other breads. It contains high amounts of iron, potassium, folate, vitamin E, B12, B1, B6, riboflavin, thiamin, manganese, zinc, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, and niacin.
What’s more, it digests easier, and the nutrients and minerals it contains are easily used in the body. Even most people with gluten intolerance can eat it without any reaction. However, since it’s made from wheat or rye, those with celiac disease should avoid it.
Traditional Homemade Sourdough Bread Recipe
To make sourdough bread, you need to make a starter first. You’ll use it instead of yeast. Even though the starter takes about 5 days to develop, you can keep it alive and use it whenever you like in future.
How to Make the ‘Starter’
Ingredients:
- ½ cup of warm water (105-115 °F)
- 1 package of active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm water (105-115 °F)
- 1 tbsp. of honey
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
Take a cup and half fill it with warm water. Dissolve the yeast, and add two cups of warm water, flour, and honey. Beat with a wooden spoon until you get a smooth consistency.
Use a 100% cotton cheesecloth to cover the mixture, and let it stay for 5-10 days at room temperature (the time depends on the room temperature, the warmer the temperature, the faster the fermentation.) Don’t forget to stir the mixture 2-3 times a day.
In the end, the vigorous bubbling should stop, and it should get a fermented aroma. Transfer it in a plastic container, cover, and put it in the fridge.
Then, you can take the amount needed and bring it to room temperature before using. For each cup of starter used, replenish with ¾ cup of water, ¾ cup of all-purpose flour, and a teaspoon of honey.
Once again, use a cheesecloth to cover and let it stay for a day at room temperature. Cover and refrigerate it. If you don’t use it in the next ten days, add a teaspoon of honey, and continue doing this every ten days until you replenish the starter.
How to Make the Bread
This homemade sourdough bread recipe makes two loaves.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup Starter
- a package of active dry yeast
- 3 ½, or 4 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cup of water
- ¼ cup of honey
- 1 ½ of salt
- 3 tbsp. of canola oil
- ¼ cup of wheat germ (toasted) or flax seed meal
- 1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour or white whole wheat flour
- ½ of baking soda
- 2 tsp. of flax seeds
- flax seeds, water, and flax seed meal – optional
Directions:
Let the starter stay at room temperature for half an hour. Mix the yeast and 2-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour in a large bowl and set aside. Then, heat and stir the water, oil, honey, and salt at 120-130°F, until warm.
Pour this mixture into the yeast one and add the starter. Use an electric mixer to beat for half a minute, on low to medium speed. While beating, make sure you scrape the sides of the bowl all the time. Then, continue beating for three more minutes, but this time on high speed.
Take another bowl and mix the whole wheat flour, half a cup of the remaining all-purpose flour, two teaspoons of flax seeds, ¼ cup of flax seed meal, and the baking soda. Once you mix well, add it to the yeast mixture and stir using a wooden spoon.
While stirring, add as much of the remaining all-purpose flour as possible.
Sprinkle some flour on your counter before taking the dough out of the bowl and kneading it. Make smooth and elastic, moderately stiff dough by adding enough of the remaining all-purpose flour. This should take around six to eight minutes.
Then, form the dough into a ball. Grease some bowl lightly, and place the dough ball in it. Let it rise covered in a warm room for 45-60 minutes, or until it doubles in size. After punching down the dough, place it on a lightly floured counter.
Divide it in half and cover, allowing it to rest for ten minutes. At the same time, lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
Make two dough balls and place them on the baking sheets. Flatten them slightly to around six inches in diameter. Then, make crisscross slashes across the loaf tops using a sharp knife. Cover and allow them to rise in a warm place for half an hour, or until they almost double in size.
You can brush them with water and sprinkle some flax seed meal and flax seeds if you like.
Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes in a preheated oven at 375 °F. It should make a hollow sound when lightly tapped. You can also use a foil to cover it loosely in the last ten minutes of baking to prevent over-browning. Finally, cool it on wire racks.
Enjoy your delicious, healthy bread!
