What is the healthiest bread?

In general, the healthiest bread is a wholegrain sourdough loaf. The wholegrain provides fibre to nourish your gut microbes, while the long, slow fermentation process of sourdough increases the bioavailability of nutrients within the bread, meaning your body is able to access more of the goodness the bread contains. Slow fermentation also reduces the gluten load, making the bread is easier to digest, while simultaneously increasing resistant starch, which controls blood sugar levels. If you buy your bread, it is hugely important to work out if it is true sourdough, as this is key to understanding how healthy the loaf is. You also need to find out whether your loaf contains white flour, wholegrain flour, or a mix of the two.

At the Sourdough School and the Sourdough Club, we teach according to our seven core principles:

increase fibre
increase diversity
ferment
increase levels of antioxidants
increase probiotics in your bakes
reduce refined sugar
make lifestyle changes that support the body as a whole

A recipe for the healthiest bread would follow these seven core principles, and in particular would pack in as much diversity as possible, as this is so important for nourishing your gut, and therefore your body and mind. Our Muesli Sourdough Boule is an incredibly healthy bread that contains a whopping 37 different ingredients, due to the inclusion of a Botanical Blend and a nutrient-rich muesli blend. Ezekiel bread might just be the healthiest bread of all, as it contains sprouted grains and legumes with a vast diversity of ingredients.

Thinking about what you eat and drink with your bread will also determine how healthy it is as part of a meal and a balanced diet. You can find out more about this on the Sourdough Club, including specific recipes and information on how they benefit your health. There are some that are particularly good for sufferers of IBS, for example, or those recovering from cancer. Of course, there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer to what the healthiest bread is, as it depends very much on your own body and health, but by exploring the options available and understanding your own body’s needs, you can maximise the health benefits of your sourdough loaf.

All reasonable care is taken when writing about health aspects of bread, but the information it contains is not intended to take the place of treatment by a qualified medical practitioner. You must seek professional advice if you are in any doubt about any medical condition. Any application of the ideas and information contained on this website is at the reader's sole discretion and risk.

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About Dr Vanessa Kimbell

Dr Vanessa Kimbell is acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost authorities on bread and human health — the first person to hold a doctorate in Baking as Lifestyle Medicine and Preventative Healthcare, and the pioneer who, long before gut health became a mainstream concern, first identified the crucial role bread plays in the gut microbiome and mental wellbeing. A fourth-generation baker of Italian descent, she has been baking sourdough since the age of 11, served her traditional apprenticeship in the Dordogne, and is a time-served, French-trained qualified baker who has worked alongside some of the world’s greatest bakers including Richard Hart and Gabriele Bonci. She has spent four decades asking the questions the food industry preferred no one asked: why was industrial mono bread slowly harming us, and what would it take to make bread that genuinely nourishes?

The answer became her life’s work. As founder and Course Director of The Sourdough School in Northamptonshire — a world-renowned centre of research and education — she has taught bakers from over 84 countries, integrated the BALM (Baking as Lifestyle Medicine) Protocol into NHS clinical practice at Bethlem Royal Hospital, and developed Proven Bread: the first bread built on clinical evidence, personalised to the individual through nutrigenetics and gut microbiome assessment. She delivered the Royal College of General Practitioners‘ approved course in the Nutrition of Bread, has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme for many years, and collaborates with leading scientists and clinicians including Professor Tim Spector — who credits her with teaching people to make the healthiest bread in the world — and Professor David Veale. Named the Sourdough Queen by The Telegraph in 2013, her influence reaches far beyond the classroom — from artisan bakers and healthcare professionals to the world’s leading food scientists and multinational food corporations.

A bestselling international author of five books, her sixth — Proven — publishes in November 2026.

More information about Vanessa can be found at
The Sourdough School,
The Sourdough Club,
on Instagram at @SourdoughClub,
@SourdoughSchool and
@vanessakimbell,
on Facebook and
LinkedIn.