Artisan Bread Original - What is a natural leaven?

The leaven in ABO artisan bread is made with organic baking ferment, developed by the Institute for Nutrition Research in Darmstadt for people with an intolerance to sourdough, gluten or yeast. The developers also had in mind to enable people anywhere in the world to make delicious, mild-tasting and easy to digest bread, even from the so-called 'unbakeable' grains, like millet, rice and buckwheat or even tropical manioc. This has enabled us at ABO to make the first quinoa bread and other delicious naturally gluten free breads without having to add any fillers or gums. The universality of the ferment allows us to use it for all our breads, even rye breads, which usually need a sourdough, and wheat breads, which are usually baked with yeast. Baking ferment is made from naturally gluten-free organic flour and organic honey and is used in very small quantities: the flour and honey are fully assimilated during the 12-15 hour fermentation process and are therefore not present in the finished bread. Although the honey is not present in the finished product we do not call the bread vegan, as vegans do not use honey due to the cruelty involved in honey production. However, it might reassure you that organic honey production does not allow the burning of hives, the clipping of wings of queen bees, the practise of destroying the male brood, nor the destruction of bees in the combs as a method of harvesting the honey.
Ref: DEFRA organic & EC reg. No 1804/1999.