Well, I just tasted the loaves I made using a ... OK, I won't call it Detmold, because it's not,
but I varied the hydration of the starter in each of the builds according to Detmold. The loaf
is all whole wheat flour.

I keep my starter really dry, 1 part water to 2 parts flour.
Next stage was 2 parts water to 1 part flour
Final stage was 1 part water to 1 part flour.

I happy to say that these efforts ... seemed to make absolutely no difference in the taste of
my bread to my wife, and she's the judge.

I thought it might have a smoother sour, less sharp and more like tangy yogurt. But,
shockingly, I've been known to deceive myself from time to time. So I gave her a slice, asked
her how it tasted and she said, "Tastes just like your usual sourdough."

Next weekend, I'll try Dick's method (in the Word 97 doc found on this page: http://
home.att.net/~carlsfriends/dickpics/billowy.html ) to see if I can get some more loft into my
whole wheat bread. Anyone with experience making lofty 100% whole wheat sourdough
loaves, I'd love to hear your tips.

(Somewhat off topic, the loaves I make with instant yeast rise very, very high whenever I use
buttermilk. I've done some searching, but haven't found anything that really explains why
that might be -- anyone have an idea? Or am I deceiving myself again that buttermilk might
be the culprit? Adding buttermilk to whole wheat sourdough just seems silly, but, what do I
know?)