Hi Christina, congratulations on getting a good sourdough starter up and running!

In terms of the flavor and aroma of your sourdough bread, the "almost sweet smell" that you're looking for sounds more typical of an artisan bread made with a yeast-raised overnight preferment, so some of this may have to do with adjusting your expectations. However, it's certainly possible to achieve milder flavored sourdough bread.

Since wholegrain flours, especially whole rye flour, tends to promote more sour flavor, it makes sense to limit their use. Try gradually scaling back on the wholegrain flours in your starter. It certainly won't hurt to maintain a small percentage of wholegrain flour in your starter, but a starter that is composed primarily of unbleached AP flour is likely to deliver milder flavor. And I would suggest eliminating the wholegrain flours completely in the dough portion of your recipes.

I don't know what recipe you followed, but the dough portion of the recipe is when much of the flavor development occurs, so you may find it helpful to try a different recipe. I find that our Pain Au Levain recipe tends to deliver a milder flavored bread, especially if you substitute white flour for the pumpernickel flour called for, and be sure to add the overnight levain to the recipe when it's not overly ripe. 

As far as your sourdough maintenance routine goes, if you find your starter is falling significantly between feedings then it's likely more frequent feedings will improve it's activity level and may also contribute to milder flavor down the road. While it's fine to refrigerate your starter when you're not planning to bake, when you're maintaining your starter at room temperature leading up to baking I would encourage you to feed at the peak, or just as your starter is beginning to fall, which will keep yeast activity vigorous. 

I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes. 

Barb

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