Hi, I am Ian Greig and I live in the Marches of Herefordshire near the border with Wales. I have been baking bread on and off for a few years and have tried most styles. I have a Lekue silicone 'bread pan' for proving and/or baking, and a 4 litre cast iron casserole aka Dutch Oven which is ideal for Jim Lahey bread. Recently one of the family encouraged me to make a sourdough starter and have a go. Results were mixed and tended to be rather flat -- and sour. My wife and I don't like full flavour -- as in slow fermentation -- but are not keen anything too strong or sour. So the experiment continues...
Welcome, Ian! Our family prefers the less sour flavor of sourdough as well. You will find a lot of information on this forum that I hope will be useful to you. I've been experimenting a while, to achieve that flavor profile and crumb that we prefer at our house, and it's been a fun process. I'm sure you will get there as well. Good luck to you, and Happy Baking!
if ya look in the artisan section (I think) there's a thread dedicated to sourdough and can be most helpful - from starter creation to baking and all things between. I'm usually in there but am roaming around a bit tonight, I'm also a starter whiz and all I do is no knead (I take it the Lahey you mention is the no knead Lahey, not the trailer park boys Lahey). And here's a link
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/forums/general-discussion-and-recipe-exchange/sourdough-and-starters
Enjoy!