We got a portion of a friend's sour dough starter. Mrs. Buff made sourdough bread in the bread machine...it wasn't quite sour enough to taste like the real deal. Any suggestions (other than don't use the bread machine)? I think she planned on trying it in the real oven next, but should she let it sit out and proof longer to develop the sour taste?
I've never made sourdough bread in a breadmaker before (I don't have one to even try). But typically, the way you get the more sour flavor in a home bake would be to refrigerate the dough for an extended period of time before baking. I'm no expert, but putting the dough in a cold environment slows down the fermentation (so your bread shouldn't overproof) and also helps to develop the bacteria in the dough that promote the sour flavor. An additional way to also get more interesting and possibly sour flavor in your bread would be to put in a percentage of whole wheat or rye flour, but if you go too high of a percentage, it will also have an effect on your hydration. Whole wheat flour is thirstier than regular old bread flour!
I'm not sure how this would translate to a breadmaker, which from my understanding, kneads and bakes the bread all in on. For reference, here's my rough sourdough process (it's really not that hard to do, it just takes time, patience, and experience):
Friday night: feed starter
Saturday morning, early: mix levain with ripe (fed) starter
Early or mid Saturday afternoon: mix active levain, flour, and warm water (holding back 100g water to put in with the salt) and let autolyse for 1 huor
One hour later: mix salt in with remaining 100g warm water; perform set of stretches and folds
Mid afternoon to early evening (4 ish hours usually): do 4 sets of stretches and folds at 30 min intervals, leave dough alone (covered this whole time) for the remained of the 4 hours, all the while at a slightly warmer than room temp location (for me, this is on top of my gas stove)
Early evening: divide dough into two and pre-shape, let bench rest for 20 min
20 min later: shape and put into bannetons, cover bannetons and put into fridge
Following morning/afternoon: preheat dutch oven in oven at 500 degrees for one hour
One hour later: Score and bake loaves, one at a time, with reheated oven in between
Maybe this will help someone?
