Trader Joe’s and Whole Wheat Sourdough

Armed with the new knowledge that sourdough bread is easier to digest, lowers your insulin reaction to carbs, and might increase your body’s ability to absorb nutrients from  the flour, I went to Trader Joe’s to check out their sourdough selection. Of course we all know that whole wheat flour is much, much better than white flour.

What I found was not good. TJ’s has whole wheat yeast bread and sourdough white flour bread — but no whole wheat sourdough bread. Maybe this is an unserved market where someone will come in to fill the void. I think Trader Joe’s is great, and it will be interesting to see what happens with the whole wheat sourdough.

On a related note, I listened to the Michael Pollan interview on NPR’s Science Friday, and he made the very good point that the best whole wheat/whole grain breads are always sourdough, because the natural starter has the ability to fully develop the flavor and texture of the whole grains. As he put it, yeasted whole wheat bread just crumbles in the toaster. Commercial yeast is a nono-culture product, optimized to put air holes in bread.

Good stuff.