Stiff Dough Levain

A Picture of My Levain

This is a recipe for a traditional French sourdough starter called levain (le-vaan), which you add to your dough to make it rise. It will take time to prepare, and is quite like a baby - requiring regular feeding, smells, and can die. Yet if successful, you will be very well rewarded.

Ingredients:
Unbleached bread flour
Rye flour
Whole wheat flour
Mineral water (avoid tap water because the chlorine in the water will kill off the bacteria in you culture. I use Evian for this purpose.)

Day 1
Water 75g
Unbleached flour 50g
Rye flour 50g

Pour water into a medium mixing bowl and stir in both flours until you have a stiff dough. It will not be a smooth dough, and it will be rather dry. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 24 hours.

Day 2
Water 30
Unbleached bread flour 50g
Whole Wheat flour 5g

Your levain culture may have risen slightly by this point, or not at all. Doesn't matter.
Pour water into the bowl, and using a spoon, press the dough on the bottom and sides of the bowl to break it up and soften it. The water should turn milky and bubble - a sign that it's alive. Add the flours and stir till you have a stiff, dry dough form. Knead into a lump, collecting all the stray dough in the bowl. Don't worry about the dough which sticks to the side of the bowl. Cover and leave for another 24hrs.

Day 3
Water 30g
Unbleached bread flour 50g
Whole wheat flour 5g

Your culture should have expanded to 1-1.5 times its original size. The surface will be dimpled from the bubbles forming below it. It should smell like...well, the book I learnt the recipe from said "wheaty, effervescent, like foam on Belgian ale". To me, it smelt like somebody didn't bathe for three days. Either way, you've got a living starter. Pinch off a bit and try - it should taste sour.

Do the usual - add water, mash the dough, add flour, knead, leave for 24 hrs.

Day 4-10

If your culture is exhibiting these signs:

• risen to a dome that is already deflating
• smells like ripe fruit with a hint of sour
• it will taste really really sour
• slash it with a knife, and you should see lots of air bubbles and complex gluten strands.

then your culture is ready to go - skip ahead to the next step. If your culture still looks pretty dead, then keep feeding the culture for another 6 days. Use warm water (38 Celsius) instead of room temperature, and keep the culture in a warm, draught free area. If it doesn't show signs of life past the 10 day mark, I'm afraid you'll have to try again.

Refreshing the Levain

Pinch of about 45g of the levain and discard the rest (it makes good bird food, I hear). It may seem like a waste, but if you keep it, it will produce excess alcohol and acids that will eventually kill the bacteria culture and give you bread a funny taste.

Water 50g

Unbleached bread flour 95g

Whole wheat flour 5g

Add the water to the levain, mash it, then add the flours. Knead to gather up all the loose flour, then keep kneading for 1-2 minutes till you get a stiff dough. As usual, it will not be a smooth dough. Leave the dough for 8-12 hours before you either use it in a recipe, or chuck it into the fridge where it can keep for a week before needing to be refreshed.

Important Note: Whether or not you have refreshed you levain recently, you must refresh it 8-12 hours before you intend to start baking to ensure optimum condition for raising bread and flavour. Just remember to put aside 45g of levain to refresh into your new batch.