WRK wrote:

> Yet, I have also
> heard (and believe) that the techniques of the baker and the environmental
> variables, temperature, humidity, proofing times, etc. are hugely
> responsible.}

Nearly everything that one can post about this is anecdotal, given
we're not busy with electron microscopes and RNA smears. Here's my two
cents.

Cultures stored in the refrigerator tend to be milder. I suspect this
is so because the yeast side of the population mix is more tolerant of
lower temperatures and also its growth rate is stronger below 85 F
than LBs. So when you refresh the culture from cold storage... what
grows first? Yeasts. When you return the room temp. culture to the
refrigerator what stops growing first? LBs. It is logical that over
time, with repeated cycles, the yeast side will dominate the stater.

My answer to this has been to store starter as a small dough ball. And
I keep it in the cellar, not the refrigerator. The dis-advantage to
dough ball storage is that at refreshment time, you have to break the
ball up into little pieces and rehydrate. OTOH... nothing (especially
the water) is starting off at 38 F. so there is less opportunity for
the yeasts to get a head start. When I put the culture away, a spoonful
is kneaded with flour back into a dough-ball. This dehydrates the
culture (but does not dry it) and drastically slows the subsequent
growth rate.

My starters are maintained on freshly ground white wheat berries... but
red wheat or rye works equally well. And they make either sour or mild
bread depending on the inoculation ratio and the temperature employed
for dough building.

An aside... if your bread is milder than you like... try adding a small
amount, like 80 grams, of cooked barley or oat mush to the sponge
stage. I specify oats or barley since the outer seed hulls are removed
before sale, and the remaining inner ones are soft. Moreover... after
cooking this remaining hull is largely reduced to mucilage. It will not
interfere with your rise or crumb. What you are doing is boosting
maltose (Google saccarification). This enhances the souring
possibilities.