Story on the health benefits of sourdough
There is a story on the CBC today about the health benefits of eating sourdough bread [1] featuring Byron Fry. It is worth checking out.
So... if you've read it, what do you think?
I have to go back and review my bread science (though there is a good short article by Emily Buehler on the topic here [2]) but... well, I'm not sure I'm in agreement with syllogism built into the article that "Gluten is bad. Sourdough is lower in gluten. Thus sourdough is good (or less bad)." It is a bit more complex than that, isn't it? With the protease and the amylase and the lactobacillus... well, as I said, I'm a bit rusty here. Clearly sourdough bread still has a ton of gluten in it or you wouldn't be able to get those beautiful crumb structures in your loaves, no? And, yes, there is a lot of evidence that naturally leavened, whole grain bread spikes blood sugar levels less and is easier for people to digest, but that doesn't necessarily make gluten the boogieman, does it?
Despite my gripes, it is good to see Byron out there spreading the word about the healthfulness of real bread. His bakery [3] looks awesome. I hope to get out there and check it out some day soon.