Want A Milder Sourdough Starter? Grab Some Potato Flakes

Many novice bakers are drawn to baking their own sourdough bread (often using a sourdough starter they bought from a bakery) due to the bread's recent surge in popularity. However, some of these aspiring sourdough makers are not actually fond of sourdough bread's uniquely sour taste, which comes from the acetic acid created as the sourdough starter ferments. Luckily, if you want to enjoy a great loaf of sourdough with a bit less tanginess to it, you can. Jamie Saechao — a sourdough blogger at Ginger Homemaker — suggests using a potato flake sourdough starter to get the job done.

"A potato flake sourdough starter is a traditional starter method that lends itself to a softer, sweeter dough than a traditional sourdough starter that uses only flour and water," Saechao explained. The reason for the softness comes from the fact that the potato starch traps moisture within the bread, giving it a long-lasting softness that sourdough doesn't usually have. As for the sweetness, potato flake sourdough starter usually contains sugar, which helps neutralize the tang of a traditional sourdough loaf. These qualities ultimately result in a sweeter, fluffier version of the rustic bread.

With that in mind, while you can find a potato flake sourdough starter at some local bakeries, the potato flake variation isn't much harder to make at home than the traditional recipe. "The potato flakes are added to the starter when you add all of the ingredients," Saechao noted. "You will also add in yeast, sugar, and water."

Now, if you're someone who generally enjoys the sour taste of homemade sourdough bread, there are still a few instances where using a potato flake sourdough starter is your absolute best bet. For starters, the style of sourdough is an incredible fit for sweeter bread recipes that you want to give that homemade artisanal touch. "It lends itself well to flavoring sweet breads like raisin cinnamon bread," Jamie Saechao added. Similarly, the potato flake sourdough starter is often used to make Amish Friendship Bread — a sweet, cake-like loaf of bread that often includes nuts, raisins, and cinnamon sugar.

Furthermore, even some of the more mundane things we use bread for daily can be improved with potato flake sourdough. While the Fool's Gold sandwich — a Colorado staple that features peanut butter, jelly, and bacon — goes quite well on two pieces of standard sourdough bread, those looking to maximize the sandwich's natural sweetness could certainly use potato flake sourdough bread to do so. Alternatively, using the bread to make either cinnamon rolls or French toast are great ways to use the soft, subtly sweet bread.