About our sourdough

We like bread that is crunchy and dark on the outside and soft, creamy and chewy on the inside. The dark crust shows the deep caramelisation of the sugars in the dough and softens slowly over a day or two, gaining more flavour. The crumb has hints of both sweetness and tanginess thanks to the symbiosis of yeast and bacteria working its magic on the dough. The soft chewiness is because of the high initial hydration of the dough which makes it easier to work, but also gives the bread longevity once it's baked.

Bread consists of only three ingredients: flour, water and salt. These are mixed together by hand and left to ferment for a few hours with periodic turns. Once it has reached the right point of fermentation it's shaped into loaves and proofed for another ten to twelve hours.

We blend Champagne Valley flours for our bread. Stoneground flour is coarser and carbs in the flour are taken up by the body more slowly. Stone grinding is also cooler, preserving vitamins and fats in the flour, and retains the bran which is one of the main sources of nutrition in a grain berry.

If you'd like to learn to bake bread yourself, please visit this amazing website.

So What Is Sourdough?

Sourdough is not an ingredient that gets added to bread. It is a process by which bread is made using a symbiotic culture of airborne yeasts and bacteria to naturally leaven the dough through fermentation.

During fermentation, the process of making sourdough (that is, when we add the culture of yeast and bacteria to the flour, water and salt), bacteria breaks down phytic acid. Phytic acid, found in most grains, prevents your gut from optimising the absorption of nutrients. So while many people think gluten is the problem, flour actually contains a heap of beneficial minerals and nutrients, many of which are inhibited from being absorbed in the presence of phytic acid.

Commercially leavened bread (made with commercial yeast) sadly cannot offer you this benefit. This type of bread is largely non-nutritive, which is why commercial bakeries add stuff and "enrich" it with minerals and nutrients. But in good quality flour, those nutrients are already present. They just need to be unlocked, or unleashed. That's where the sourdough culture comes into action.

So here's the thing: for bread to be truly nutritious, it should be naturally leavened. And perhaps even more importantly, for it to be sourdough there should not be "yeast" on the list of ingredients. If you buy a bread labelled "sourdough" and the ingredients include yeast, the bakery has sped up the leavening process, and chances are the phytic acid has not been thoroughly taken care of, if at all.

So, if you're going to spend your hard-earned money on a healthy option like sourdough bread, read the label and make sure you're getting what you're paying for. We don't use yeast. We make our bread the way it was made 3,000 years ago.

How to Tell If It's the Real Thing

• Check the ingredients list. Real sourdough should read simply: flour, water, salt. If "yeast" appears anywhere on the label, it isn't naturally leavened, no matter what the packaging calls it.
• Ask about the culture. A genuine sourdough bakery feeds and maintains a live starter, some going back years or even decades, rather than using a commercial yeast shortcut.
• Look at the timeline. Naturally leavened bread takes time, typically somewhere between 18 and 36 hours from start to bake. If a "sourdough" is ready in a few hours, it likely isn't.
• Trust the crust and crumb. A true long-fermented sourdough has a deeply caramelised crust and an open, slightly tangy crumb. Commercial shortcuts struggle to replicate either.

This is exactly the process behind every loaf we bake at Linden Loaves: no yeast, no shortcuts, just flour, water, salt and time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is sourdough healthier than regular bread?

Naturally fermented sourdough gives bacteria time to break down phytic acid, which helps your body absorb more of the minerals and nutrients already present in good flour. Commercially yeasted bread ferments too quickly for this to happen, which is part of why many mass produced loaves are "enriched" with added vitamins and minerals rather than unlocking the ones already there.

Does sourdough bread contain yeast?

Genuine sourdough does not contain added commercial yeast. It rises using a live culture of wild yeast and bacteria instead. If a bread labelled "sourdough" lists yeast in its ingredients, it has been sped up with a shortcut and is not truly naturally leavened.

Why does sourdough taste sour or tangy?

The tang comes from the same bacteria responsible for breaking down phytic acid. During the long fermentation, these bacteria produce lactic and acetic acid, which give sourdough its characteristic flavour alongside the sweetness that develops from the dough's natural sugars.

How long does it take to make real sourdough bread?

Properly fermented sourdough typically takes somewhere between 18 and 36 hours from starter to bake. This slow timeline is what allows the flavour, texture and nutritional benefits to fully develop. Bread that skips this time is not truly sourdough, whatever the label says.

Is sourdough suitable for people who are sensitive to regular bread?

Some people who find regular bread hard to digest report getting on better with naturally fermented sourdough, likely because the long fermentation breaks down some of the gluten and phytic acid before you even eat it. That said, sourdough still contains gluten and is not suitable for anyone with coeliac disease or a diagnosed gluten allergy.

Curious to taste the difference for yourself? Shop our sourdough range, or get in touch if you run a café, deli or restaurant and want to talk wholesale supply.