Calories in sourdough starter
When I make a recipe for my cooking, I always calculate the nutrition values. I can't seem to calculate the nutrition values and calorie content of a loaf of sourdough bread. I don't have problems with other ingredients except the starter and/or the sponge. I hope some of you will be able to enlighten me in this department.
Say, if I use a starter that is made of equal amount of water and flour, that means only half of the total weight contains caloreis. If I use 10 oz of that starter to mix with 10 oz of water and 10 oz of flour, out of the total 30 oz only 15 oz contain calories, so I should only add calories for 15 oz flour (or half of the total weight) into my recipe, am I correct? Is there anything else I should take into consideration?
The starter is made up of flour and water, so whatever nutritional value that flour has (check the bag) is what's in the starter.
I have just finished making the recipe for a medium loaf. Only 60 calories a slice, that's pretty good.
As others have said you are correct in how you are looking at calories. I have looked at most of the breads I have baked and have come to an average value for almost all of my breads.
If I weigh the slice of bread in grams, then for every 10 grams of bread I use 27 calories. If working in oz then that is for 1 oz equal 76.5 calories.
For your slice -- I would guess that it was just a little over 3/4 of an oz. Or in grams it weight was about 22 grams. How close did I come?
These values are not perfect -- but close enough, I think, for most of us intereted in counting calories.
The amount of fats in bread, do of course make a difference -- but for most breads this factor is not very large.
Dave
Dave, I find it fascinating when I track the nutrition values of my breads. You're right. The ingredients used in the bread do make a difference. I have just calculated a medium loaf (1.5 lb) cottgae cheese dill bread in which I did put 1 cup of 1% fat cottage cheese, vital wheat gluten, dill weeds, non fat milk instead of water along with the regular ingredients. Also, I used a 166% hydration sponge. The weight of the slices varies; a slice near the end is smaller than a slice taken from the middle of the loaf. So I figured the calories by weighing each piece. Last night, I weighed a middle piece and it was just a bit over 1 oz (1.1 oz to be exact) so it was just a bit under 70 calories. My regular 100% whole wheat would come out about a bit over 60 calories per gram.
I am just curious, what's the hydration level of your sponge? Do you usually weigh your sponge before making the dough? How much does one cup of your sponge weigh in its prime? Mine seems to weighs between 8.6 and 9 oz in a cup. Also, do you use some software to do the calculation?
Mostly I look at the calories in the finished bread by looking at what goes into the bread. Water doesn't add any calories, but it is part of the finished weight of the bread and therefore important.
The basics come from the fact that every 10 grams of carbohydrate we get 40 celeries. For every 10 grams of protein, we get 40 calories and for every 10 grams of fat, we get 90 calories. Of course, for whole-wheat flour part of the weight is material that adds no calories. The "fiber" for example, but it is still very good for us.
What I do to calculate calories in bread is to add up all of the calories in the total ingredients and then divide that by the total weight of the baked bread. A good place to look for values is http://www.calorieking.com I have had very good luck in finding most every thing on this site and can input a weight in oz. or grams and get the calories.
Most of our baked bread is going to be carbohydrate with some protein and water. There will also be some fat if we use butter or oil in the recipe. There will also be some "fiber" that adds weight but not calories. Still taking this all into account, I have found that if I use 27 calories for every 10 grams of weight I am close enough for my diet management. This of course does not reflect the fact that whole-wheat bread is better for me the white bread – or that the real killer is how much butter I put on the bread.
Dave
This is of high importance to me also. I'm a bread lover, so must really watch it. I'm following the Weight Watcher weight loss plan. I've recently started my sourdough starters, because having only flour, water, salt and starter in the artisan breads means the calories are low enough that I can count them a "reduced calorie" bread. One ounce of rc bread is only equal to 1 point, as opposed to 2 points (or more)for regular bread. Of course, it tastes better, too.
Syb
Made a forum topic instead