Lifestyle Support for Healthier Living

Grow B12 in Your Naturally Leavened Bread!

 Naturally Leavened Bread & B12 

Those of you who have followed our recipes for any length of time know that we strive to bring simplicity, taste, and complete nutrition into all that we do. You also know that we are advocates of naturally leavened bread. This morning I shared with my friend, Dr. Matt McClean, a new twist to our naturally leavened bread and thought we ought to share it with you too.  

Dr. Matt and Amy McClean taught us a lot about making good naturally leavened bread a few years ago and continue to be leading authorities on this subject. They have been recommending naturally leavened bread to Matt's patients for many years, along with cultured vegetables and an all-around healthful diet. In fact, they have even added a bread-making classroom to their medical clinic and have developed cultures for various types of grains, including non-gluten grains. More about that later! 

Recently Matt and I discussed the possibility of creating a culture of naturally leavened starter that would propagate vitamin B12. This morning I thought of a simple way to consistently enable vitamin B12 to propagate within the dough as it leavens and would like to share our method with you. 

If you don't already know how to make naturally leavened bread, then watch our naturally leavened bread video and read our written instructions (see video here and see written instructions here). Add to the ingredients one or more cups of Greek Yogurt (see super easy yogurt recipe here) and mix in well with the other ingredients. You will have to add a little extra flour, but just follow the instruction in the video and add the extra flour only until the dough pulls cleanly away from the sides of your mixer.

The yogurt does not affect the taste negatively in anyway and produces a nice mellow flavor. It also offers some additional friendly probiotic strains into your bread-making that are not in the starter alone. 

If you would like to include some animal-based foods in your diet without meat, give this a try the next time you make naturally leavened bread. You will love the mellow flavor of the bread and your bread will also become a great source of natural vitamin B-12! Don't you love how simple it is to obtain your nutritional needs in a healthful manner? We hope you give this a try and share your questions and comments below. 

"Share or like" this post below with your bread-making friends!

Tags: B12, naturally leavened bread, probiotics, vitamin B-12, yogurt

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Permalink Reply by mamagrow on May 17, 2012 at 3:33pm

I took the class from Matt and Amy early this year and really enjoyed it. I've been using my starter off and on since then (we've had a lot going on so I'm baking less right now). I'm really excited about it, and soon I'll try to use the starter in my own recipes. I'll have to try the yogurt when I make my next batch. I've shared the starter with a few friends, and they love it as well.

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Permalink Reply by James Simmons on May 17, 2012 at 3:34pm

Use the regular starter and the yogurt together when you make your next batch. When you do this you are adding several more strains of friendly "probiotic" bacteria to your bread-making process, including the bacteria that produce vitamin b-12!

mamagrow said:

I took the class from Matt and Amy early this year and really enjoyed it. I've been using my starter off and on since then (we've had a lot going on so I'm baking less right now). I'm really excited about it, and soon I'll try to use the starter in my own recipes. I'll have to try the yogurt when I make my next batch. I've shared the starter with a few friends, and they love it as well.

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Permalink Reply by Mindy Mitchell on May 17, 2012 at 9:51pm

What a great idea! I love how you get inspiration when you put a question in your mind and let it 'naturally leaven' there for a while. Great things come out of such ponderings.

Thanks for sharing with us. Can't wait to try it.

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Permalink Reply by Sharey Ann Baker on May 18, 2012 at 2:11pm

Thanks for the idea. I've been making the sourdough bread and really enjoy it. Will the heat of baking destroy the B-12 and the probiotics? Also, can you tell me how long it actually takes to neutralize the phytic acid and the other undesirables in the whole grains? If you add more natural yeast will the neutalization take place faster? Thanks

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Permalink Reply by James Simmons on May 18, 2012 at 2:18pm

No, beneficial bacteria or probiotics go dormant if it is too cold or too hot, but become active again in the presence of a food source and within a temperature above 55 degrees and below about 98 to 100 degrees. I cannot imagine the B12 being destroyed through baking, or it would be destroyed in all animal-based foods that we cook and it isn't. I'll have to do a little more research on that part of the question. Jim

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Permalink Reply by James Simmons on May 18, 2012 at 6:50pm

I love your play on words; I will always remember them:) Thanks! One of the greatest gifts that can sprout up within us is when faith turns into knowledge that whatsoever we ask that is right or good is given to us and that as we become as little children who ask and ask and ask (and learn so fast), so too can we learn all that we want from the light and life of the world, if we but ask, seek, knock and "naturally leaven" our questions. Thanks, a type and shadow I'll never forget:)

Mindy Mitchell said:

What a great idea! I love how you get inspiration when you put a question in your mind and let it 'naturally leaven' there for a while. Great things come out of such ponderings.

Thanks for sharing with us. Can't wait to try it.