Cake flour sourdough breads

At some point I imagined that a sourdough bread make with mostly cake flour would have a delectable soft sweet crumb texture. Or at least a better 'bite' than loaves made with bread flour. Perhaps softer on the tongue, with a good sweet flavour! And without the chew or bounce that I've come to expect with lots of gluten.

Alas, these breads, although 'okay' were a learning experience. The breads weren't bad per se, in fact quite enjoyable to eat and with some sort of chew to them too. But they certainly didn't live up to my preconceptions, in that they weren't naturally sweeter and they weren't exempt from having some rubbery texture like I've come to associate with gluten. I've come to realize that cake flour may sometimes just be cheaper than bread flour, because well, it is a cheaper flour.

Now, I can't generalize if this is true for all cake flours. The protein in this cake flour was a surprising 11.3%, and it was about 2/3rd the price I pay for a better stoneground bread flour.

Breads were made at a hydration of 68% with 15% of the flour mixture being from whole spelt flour, and 85% cake flour. Since I was worried about getting gluten I mixed the final dough just before going to sleep and let it 'fermentolyze' in the fridge overnight. This meant it was slow to get going the next day whilst the dough warmed up, but in the morning it started with a developed windowpane and good stretch that came from the long and cold fridge period. Just had to be patient in letting the dough develop after that.

-Jon