Sourdough health benefits

Absolutely. I tried my best to make it clear that I was expressing a feeling not founded very deeply in fact. I didn't mean to offend at all, and I apologize for doing so! I work in a lab and many of my coworkers, some of whom are good friends outside work, are chemists.

However, since my intention was not clear, I feel compelled to defend my position. While most (all?) of the chemicals and compounds found listed as additives are derived from food sources, I believe those chemicals and compounds are more likely to be better for you when they come as part of the food they are derived from.

Yes, raw sugar is primarily sucrose. It also has proteins and other sugars as well, something you won't find in highly refined table sugar. I'll give you kosher and table salt, but sea salt also has minerals other than NaCl.

The difference, to me, is the difference between taking an Omega-3 supplement like a capsule or spoonful of cod liver oil, and eating some salmon or walnuts. Yeah, I'll get omega-3s by taking the supplement but even though they contain the same fatty acid (another chemical compound, yes?), salmon and walnuts sure taste better.

If given a choice between eating spinach and swallowing two handfuls of pills containing the chemical compounds found in spinach, I'll take spinach every time. And if given a choice between eating bread containing sodium stearoyl lactate (a preservative derived from lactic acid) and my home made sourdough, which probably has the same stuff that didn't go through a lab somewhere, I'll take my own stuff.

If we are going to be curmudgeonly, it should be noted that water is actually dihydrogen monoxide. Most chemical naming conventions specify the amount of each type of atom found in a molecule, not just the types of atoms.

Since we are being technical, sucrose would be: α-(1R,2R,3S,4S,5R)-glucopyranoside (pronounced alpha-one-r-2-r-3-s-4-s-5-r-gluco-py-ran-oh-side).

I remember reading in an article a few years ago that the benefits of sourdough (white) come from the organic acids present in the levain.  I haven't seen research done on the health benefits of wholewheat sourdough, but I am sure it exists somewhere.

Timbit

Of course. However, just because everything is comprised of chemicals in one form or another doesn't mean that we should be including unneeded chemical ingredients in our food and bread. For instance, I recently grabbed an "artisan" loaf of crusty bread at my local Fry's grocery store. You would think from the way it was packaged and how it looked that it was a true artisan bread. One look at the ingredients, however, proved otherwise: Enriched Unbleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, reduced iron, Thiamin, Mononitrate, Riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, soy oil, salt, wheat gluten, corn flour, diacetyl, tartaric acid esters of mono-diglycerides, acetic acid, guar gum, calcium sulfate, lactic acid, ammonium sulfate, monoglycerides, canola oil, ascorbic acid, potassium iodate, enzyme, hydrolyzed wheat gluten, Azodicrbonamide (ADA), olive oil.

I think it's pretty clear from the above list that store bought bread is full of nonsensical ingredients that don't need to be there. You are what you eat!