Bonifanti white mother sourdough is a mixture of water and flour, fermented by a microflora of yeasts and lactic bacteria, which feed on gluten that transform into sugar and release the natural components capable of creating the dough leavening.
The mixture is refreshed every day, manually, since 1932, the year of birth of Bonifanti, with the addition of new water and new flour, to give nourishment to families of virtuous microorganisms. Bonifanti’s white mother sourdough is the essential ingredient to produce Panettone and Easter cakes of the highest quality, because it creates and enhances strong and pleasant sensory characteristics of perfume and taste, increases the natural preservation of the product and frees mineral elements easily assimilated by our organism making the product more digestible and assimilable.
These fundamental characteristics are checked periodically thanks to the intense collaboration that for years has been binding Bonifanti to important Research Institutes and Universities. It is possible to delineate a simple comparison between the white mother sourdough and the brewer’s yeast which, although considered natural, is completely absent in the Bonifanti production. Here are the beneficial properties of the natural yeast from a white mother Bonifanti, generated by two families of yeasts and one of virtuous lactic ferments, in a stable natural balance.
GREATER BIOAVAILABILITY OF BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE COMPOUNDS
Research carried out at the University of Helsinki, Finland
The fermentation with mother sourdough determines an increase of compounds with antioxidant and antihypertensive activity.
These are substances that slow down or prevent oxidation, that is the chemical reaction responsible for damaging the cells. Antioxidants are widely used in food supplements in the hope of maintaining physical well-being and preventing aging and diseases such as cancer, heart disease and stroke (vitamin C). Antihypertensive substances help control blood pressure.
GREATER BIOAVAILABILITY OF MINERAL SALTS
Research carried out at the University of Bari
The lactic bacteria of the mother sourdough act on the insoluble phytates of the flours, releasing minerals that become assimilable.
Phytic acid is considered an anti-nutritional factor, ie a substance that can limit nutrient absorption. In fact it binds to the nutrients and forms the salts (phytates) that hinder the absorption of some minerals: calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc. Phytates are widespread in cereals and legumes. They are abundant in whole products (bran). Phytates are inactivated by heat and slow fermentation. In leavened bread and confectionery products it is the slow sourdough leavening that reduces them.
REDUCTION OF THE GLYCEMIC INDEX
Research carried out at the University of Bari and the University of Parma
The consumption of bread obtained with mother sourdough determines lower levels of blood sugar and post-prandial insulinemia.
Postprandial blood glucose is a numerical value that indicates how much glucose is present in the blood two hours after the end of a meal, ie when there are the maximum peaks of the day. This number derives from the digestion of glucose foods and intestinal absorption. Postprandial glucose is controlled by the insulin secreted by the pancreas.
REBALANCE OF THE INTESTINAL MICROBIOTA
Research carried out at the University of Kuopio, Finland
The yeast lactic acid bacteria produce substances with prebiotic activity, beneficial to the intestinal microbiota.
Prebiotic substances are non-digestible food substances that benefit thanks to the growth of bacteria already present in the intestinal tract. There are supplements with prebiotic that promote the development of bacteria useful to humans.
GREATER ORGANOLEPTIC COMPLEXITY
Research carried out at the University of Bologna
The microbial biodiversity of the mother sourdough produces a more diversified quantity of metabolites and determines better sensory characteristics.
A metabolite is the product of the metabolism process. During the fermentation, the yeast begins a process of transformation of the molecules which makes them smaller and therefore more easily absorbed. For our senses it means having more aromas, more fragrances, more taste.
MORE DIGIBILITY
Research carried out at the University of Alberta, Canad
The yeast lactic acid bacteria perform a hydrolytic action on the flour peptides, freeing simple amino acids.
The lactic ferments attack the complex biomolecules of flour, the proteins, secreting extracellular hydrolytic enzymes that turn them into simpler molecules, the amino acids, much more easily digested by the human body.
MORE PRESERVABILITY
Research carried out at the University of Bari
The yeast lactic acid bacteria produce lactic acid and other substances such as phenyl-lactic acid, a natural anti-mold.
The milk enzymes present in the yeast are endowed with a remarkable fermentative vigor and are able to inhibit the development of molds.
All these advantages would be zeroed if you added the brewer’s yeast, which is composed of a single family of selected yeasts that can ferment the dough in a short time. The characteristics of the lactic bacteria would therefore not have time to manifest themselves.
Lastly, these characteristics add up to the particular microclimate of the Piedmontese valleys where the natural yeast from the white mother Bonifanti was born, in which it stabilized the biological balance and in which it continues to live. That’s why the Bonifanti mother sourdough is unique in the world.