Abstract
The era of sourdough fermentation came into existence since the ancient times with continuous developments owing to the scientific community. The role of starter lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, constituting the sourdough microbiota, is undeniable in imparting characteristic nutritional and functional features to the sourdough. This complex community is influenced by sourdough ingredients (flour, water and other additional ingredients) and the house microbiota leading to an optimized protocol for its preparation and propagation. The potential of many non-conventional cereals (legumes, pseudocereals etc.) and milling by-products (wheat germ, bran etc.) has been exploited in this regard for sustainable agriculture and food security. Sourdough fermentation evidently improved the nutritional attributes, in terms of mineral bioavailability, dietary fibers, protein digestibility, antioxidant activity, phenol content etc. while decreasing the antinutritional factors (phytic acid, raffinose, condensed tannins and trypsin inhibitor activity), glycemic index and gluten content. The supplementation of sourdough markedly enhanced the rheology, shelf life and sensory properties as well, thereby, increasing the functional value of baked goods. Nevertheless, a holistic ‘Omics’ approach is in progress to better understand the metabolic interactions among the ‘sourdough fermentome’. This will endeavor us to further comprehend the stability and performance of sourdough technology applied in the baking industry.