DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

So I’m two batches into this new “San Francisco” sourdough culture and I’m overwhelmed with disappointment. The starter is very active, quickly leavening both my breads, but the finished loaves are every bit as bland as any other wild-yeasted dough I’ve made in the past year. In every other respect, both loaves are beautiful, but they’re lacking the specific intensity of flavor I’m looking for.

I will find the solution. But first, there is a conflict in the advice of experts.

Background: there are two acids in a sourdough bread that are largely responsible for its flavor. As Maggie Glezer writes in Artisan Baking Across America, quoting French microbiologist, cereal chemist, and bread expert Dr. Richard-Molard:

If only acetic acid is present, the bread will taste very sharp and vinegary, but if only lactic acid is present, the bread “will have no special taste,” because lactic acid is much milder and less discernable.

So, my problem is a lack of acetic acid in the dough. The question now is how to correct this shortfall. On this, the experts disagree. Glezer writes:

Temperatures in the range of 95° to 104°F and wet batterlike starters favor the Lactobacilli that excrete lactic acid. Temperatures around 68°F and stiff doughlike starters favor the Lactobacilli that excrete both acetic and lactic acids.

In sharp contrast, Peter Reinhart writes in Crust & Crumb:

The thicker sponge encourages more of the sweeter lactic acids… As a rule, lactic acid-producing prefer drier sponges and acetic acid (sour) producers like wetter, looser, more oxygen-rich sponges.

To be fair, different strains of yeasts and bacteria may all respond differently, so it’s possible that both these bakers are correct, as far as their own home cultures are concerned. Which leaves me hanging, I regret to say.