Less Sour starters/breads
I read the thread Squeeze more sour from your Sourdough. I'm not really wanting a more sour tasting bread so I was wondering if avoiding those things would make bread less sour. I'm happy with the lack of sourness that my present homemade starter produces. In the past, whenever my starters have become unhealthy, they would no longer rise the bread. They also would make hooch early, even right after feeding. Sometimes I had to add yeast to the rising loaves because of a complete failure to rise the bread after many hours. I ended up throwing the starter away. Those loaves were unpleasantly sour so I turned the bread into bread crumbs.
I was intrigued by this comment.
I also think the liquid that forms on top of the starter is the "sour" and should be used. I poured it off once and noticed a big reduction in sour taste. Mini Oven
Since I started my own starter, I've been pouring off the small amount of hooch that forms in the fridge. Even with long risings (18 hrs) for the No Knead Bread and the 21 hr chilled rising for baguettes, none of the bread has tasted sour. It also does well with long rising and oven spring. I'm wondering now if the pouring off of the hooch is making that difference with having unsour bread. I read on Jane Do's blog that she does not like the taste of sourdough after being chilled for long periods of time. It was "too sourey" for her taste.
J Monkey said this to produce a sour bread:
3) Use starter that is well-fed
So would underfeeding it help keep it mild?
I was also interested in this comment also by Mini Oven.
My starters don't have hooch anymore. I haven't seen hooch on my sourdough in years! Keep it fed and it will feed you!
That made me wonder if I've been feeding my starter enough since I do have a thin layer of hooch in the fridge. But if I do feed it more often, will I start to have sour-er bread?