I am confused. I have read several books on sourdough baking and each
author seems to have a different opinion on how best to do it. Some say
that you must use bread flour, others say all purpose is best. Some say
proof the starter at room temperature, others say at about 85 degrees. Some
use a thick starter, others a thin one. Some say use bottled water, others
find tap water to be acceptable. And on and on. It reminds me of an old
saying that "A man with one watch knows what time it is. A man with two
watches is never sure!"
To be sure, the old breads which were baked before there was commercial
yeast available did not have a great choice of flour nor of controlled
temperatures. Nor did they have bottled water available. (I suppose that
chlorinated and fluoridated water did not exist, though.) I realize that it
is possible to make a much better tasting bread today by controlling the
elements of baking, but how do I know which methods to use, short of baking
a lot of loaves to see which ones I like best?
I recently bought Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice. It appears to
have modern, tested methods by a baker who teaches at a major culinary
school. I now intend to pour over that book and use his (learned)
techniques until I either produce good bread consistently or find that they
do not work for me. Does anyone have any comments regarding this approach?