Some peer-reviewed sourdough research papers

I missed out on yesterday's "prove it's sourdough" dispute, but, for future reference, here are a few peer-reviewed research papers forum members can safely refer to. I suspect that because, as you all know, sourdough cultures are the product of an ancient and well-understood process with no health hazards attached, this is not a hyperactive area of research. However, these are good places to start when looking for authoritative studies. I've included a few quotes and notes:

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[Sourdough is] “a mixture of flour and water, spontaneously fermented by lactic acid bacteria and yeasts, which after several refreshments are responsible for its capacity to leaven the dough, while contemporarily and unavoidably acidifying it."

Gobbetti M. 1998. Interactions between lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in sourdoughs. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 9:267–274

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"The use of sourdough as the natural starter for bread making is one of the oldest biotechnology processes in food fermentation."

Röcken W, Voysey PA. 1995. Sourdough fermentation in bread making. J. Appl. Bacteriol. 79:S38–S48

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"Sourdough is a microbial ecosystem of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts in a matrix of mainly cereal flour and water." 

This is an excellent review article (i.e. it provides an overview of the research into sourdough). It is available (but only as an abstract, I'm afraid) on PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19747599/

De Vuyst L, Vrancken G, Ravyts F, Rimaux T, Weckx S. 2009. Biodiversity, ecological determinants, and metabolic exploitation of sourdough microbiota. Food Microbiol. Oct; 26(7):666-75.

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"[A] study of the microbiotas of 19 Italian sourdoughs used for the manufacture of traditional/typical breads allowed the identification, through a culture-dependent approach, of 20 and 4 species of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts, respectively."

The abstract is also available on PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22156414/

Minervini F, Di Cagno R, Lattanzi A, De Angelis M, Antonielli L, Cardinali G, Cappelle S, Gobbetti M. 2012. Lactic acid bacterium and yeast microbiotas of 19 sourdoughs used for traditional/typical italian breads: interactions between ingredients and microbial species diversity. Appl Environ Microbiol. Feb; 78(4):1251-64.

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And for those (understandably) a little fazed by all this terminology, here's a link to an excellent interview by BBC journalist and sourdough baker, Vanessa Kimball, with Prof.Terry Graham, University of Guelph, an authority on carbohydrate metabolism in humans. It's about his research into sourdough:

https://audioboom.com/boos/2795551-terry-graham-on-sourdough#t=28m20s

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Feel free to post links to other research papers, but please keep them relevant and make sure they are peer-reviewed studies.

Finally, my thanks go to Vanessa Kimball (www.sourdough.co.uk) for getting me started in digging up these papers.

Cheers.