What are FODMaPs

Fodmaps – what are they and what’s behind them? It is actually an acronym of ‘fermentable oligo-, di-, monosaccharides and polyols’ and describes a type of carbohydrates that are found in a variety of food items.

Fructans are a naturally occurring carbohydrate and are a form of fodmaps that are found not only in onions, shallots, garlic, barley, cabbage, broccoli, pistachio, artichoke, chicory root and asparagus. They are also found in wheat products such as bread and pasta.

If you want to know where fodmaps are found and what their effect are on the human body, have a look at the following graph.

As you can see, when baking breads, cakes or the likes, especially when eating bread made from wheat, barley or rye, invites the issue of having to deal with fodmaps. Some people that are very sensitive to eating wheat products usually avoid these problems by selecting a gluten free diet. That way, they avoid a large percentage of fodmaps in their diet. But this also means they don’t have the pleasure of eating a great, crusty bread as non-sufferers have.

Enter sourdough and fermentation … as the name fodmaps in it’s acronym suggests, fructans fall into the category of oligosaccharides and are of course fermentable. So why do they pose a problem when we eat bread you may ask. The answer is fairly simple and lies in the fact that most – if not all of our bread we can buy nowadays is not given time enough to ferment properly.

Bread dough made in the factory is fermented just enough to allow for quick processing and baking. The fermentation process is simply not given time enough to work its magic and get rid of the fodmaps.

When you make sourdough bread and include overnight or even longer fermentation periods, you will not only enhance the flavor of your bread immensely but also reduce the fodmaps to virtually zero. The are two types of fermentation, alcoholic and lactic acid fermentation. Alcoholic fermentation typically takes place when making beer, wine, kombucha, vinegar and other things like that. Lactic Acid fermentation happens during the making of cheese, yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles and the like. When making sourdough bread, both fermentation types happen at once.

This is why many people that are sensitive to eating wheat products will have little or no problems consuming fully fermented sourdough bread especially when these are made from rye or spelt and you are using a natural sourdough starter.

The recipes you find on our website include overnight fermentation and some even longer and we only use our own, natural sourdough starter. The results are tolerated better by people that have suffered from common digestive disorders. Where FODMAPs exist, they are poorly digested, so they end up reaching the colon. So its best to avoid having them in the first place. When baking bread, you can do that by using long fermentation periods.