These herbed beans on toast practically make themselves, can be created in moments with a handful of ingredients. It’s breakfast, lunch and, has been dinner on occasion. There are always simple fixes we gravitate to, for me, it is either a big salad with greens, broccoli, avocado and loads of coconut balsamic vinegar. On other days; instead, I’ll have toasted sourdough topped with avocado, hummus, hemp seeds and sauerkraut if I had any. And the miso here delivers a deep and salty flavour with the benefits of fermented food. Sourdough is also a fermented food that is nutritionally beneficial for your gut health. Naturally fermented sourdoughs don’t contain commercial yeast and are far better for you. Wild yeast and Lactobacilli bacteria in a sourdough starter, produce Lactic Acid, which is essential and even reparative to the human gut, helping to heal and maintain a healthy digestive system. This fermentation process reduces and degrades carbohydrates and proteins found in flour — including gluten, giving your digestive system a head start. Traces of remaining glutens are quickly and easily digested. As such, a fermented sourdough is more digestible than a standard loaf and less likely to cause food intolerance.

During fermentation, Lactic Acid bacteria produce a wide range of bioactive molecules including organic acids, fatty acids, and bacteriocins. Lactic Acids increase your body’s ability to absorb vitamins and minerals from the sourdough, neutralising phytates in the flour that would otherwise interfere with their absorption. And while bread can be thought of as a high glycemic (GI) food, Lactic Acid bacteria in sourdough actually reduces starch availability and lowers glycemic responses. Research also finds sourdough has higher levels of resistant starch than other bread — your body takes longer to digest these carbohydrates so blood sugars are more stable. It can take 24 hours to make a loaf or even three days to make proper sourdough bread. I love the sourdough loaves from The Dusty Apron. Amandine and I, our entire house orders up weekly. Sourdough bread is something I eat most days. The supermarket does not sell real bread. Look for producers of fermented bread local to you. Here slices of crusty, organic sourdough are topped with herbed miso beans, then you add all your favourite things. Mine are listed below.