Bread yeast, alcohol, and permissibility

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question:

Is Sourdough bread permissible - Is ANY bread using yeast permissible?? I recently found out that what makes sourdough bread sour, is that the yeast fermentation process used in normal bread is prolonged and this somehow creates the sour flavour. In the process of this fermentation (whether for sourdough or normal bread), alcohol is produced. I would assume that the alcohol is baked off .. but I am still a bit wary - can we eat bread??

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

I pray that this finds you well, and in the best of health and spirits. May Allah grant you all good and success in this life and the next.

Yes, sourdough bread is halal, because the incidental presence of (non-wine) alcohol for non-intoxicating purposes does not render food haram--if it is in an amount that doesn't intoxicate; isn't there as an intoxicant; and isn't consumed because of intoxication.

And Allah alone gives success.

Faraz Rabbani

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