I started the levain we use at my bakery in 1999, in a class I attended at the San Francisco Baking Institute, and I have kept it alive ever since. In that class, we developed levain cultures using only whole rye flour and water. The first several feedings consisted of adding equal amounts of very warm water (85°F to 95°F, or 29°C to 35°C) and whole rye flour to produce a mash of messy, very sticky dough, the most remarkable quality of which was how difficult it was to wash off my hands after mixing. Twice a day we threw away most of the levain, added more flour and warm water, mixed by hand, then covered the levain and returned it to the proofing cabinet. Then we spent the next five minutes washing our hands. At first, nothing much seemed to be happening, but by the fourth feeding we could smell a nice funk, and by the third day the culture was finally expanding and announced itself with a strong-smelling, funky, alcoholic, and acidic perfume. Progress! You too can enjoy the pleasure that begins with a leap of faith and ends with figuring out what to do with the culture once it’s active.
There are two stages to concern yourself with. First, it takes several days to establish a good, active levain culture. Second, you need to have a maintenance program for feeding your levain and keeping it active and ready for baking. At a bakery where bread is made every day, it’s simple to follow the same schedule every day. For the home baker who wants to bake from a levain once a week, you need a different sort of routine to store your active levain (in the refrigerator works) and to restore it on a schedule that makes it available when you’re ready to use it.
The best way to start a levain is to use whole grain flour: whole rye, whole wheat, or a combination of the two. Rye flour doughs are sticky and way more difficult to rinse off your hands than wheat flour doughs, so you’ll find it easier to start a levain with whole wheat flour than with whole rye flour. But if whole rye is what you have or what you want to use, that’s fine. Whole grain flour is preferable because there’s more yeast and mineral content in the bran and outer layers of the wheat or rye berry than in the endosperm.
If you’re interested in keeping a levain around at all times, then in addition to the 6-quart clear, round tub you use for your poolish and biga, you’ll want to have a second one (with a lid) to use as your permanent levain bucket. This tub will be plenty big enough to hold the culture as it begins to develop gas and expand. Reuse the same container for each successive mix without cleaning it. The flora building up inside the container is safe and will be valuable in making the culture active. Before you begin, weigh the empty tub and write the weight down. You’ll need this information on Day 4 (and for the rest of the levain’s life), when you use 100 grams of the levain as the basis for regular feeding. Knowing the weight of the tub will allow you to simply remove the excess levain and leave the portion to be fed in the tub.
For the first several days of building up your culture, exact measurements aren’t necessary, so if I say to use 500 grams of flour and 500 grams of water, it’s okay if amounts of either are slightly more or less. If, for example, you accidentally pour in 550 grams of water, there’s no need to compensate by adding more flour. However, once your culture is established and you switch to a maintenance routine, using the exact amounts of flour and water and the right water temperatures is necessary if you want to achieve consistent results. Establishing your levain will take five days, as outlined below.
ANY TIME BEFORE NOON: Put 500 grams (3¾ cups + 2 tablespoons) of whole wheat flour with 500 grams (2¼ cups) of water at about 90°F (32°C) in a 6-quart round tub and mix by hand just until incorporated. Leave the slurry-like mixture uncovered for 1 to 2 hours, then cover it and let it rest in a warm place. A temperature of 75°F to 90°F (24°C to 32°C) would be ideal, but if you don’t have a spot that warm in your house, don’t sweat it.
Starting Your Levain. First row: Day 1, just after mixing; 24 hours later; tossing all but an eyeballed quarter on Day 2. Second row: Day 3, morning (48 hours since beginning); Day 3, morning, top view; texture of levain on Day 3. Third row: Day 4, morning (more bubbles!); Day 4, morning, side view; texture of levain on Day 4, morning.
ANY TIME BEFORE NOON: Throw away about three-quarters of your initial mix (it’s fine to estimate the volume). Leave the remainder in the tub. Add 500 grams (3¾ cups + 2 tablespoons) of whole wheat flour and 500 grams (2¼ cups) of 90°F (32°C) water to the goop in the tub and mix by hand just until incorporated. Leave the mixture uncovered for 1 to 2 hours, then cover and let rest in a warm place.
By the end of Day 2 the levain should have expanded to almost the 2-quart line of a 6-quart dough tub, with some small bubbles visible.
ANY TIME BEFORE NOON: Progress! The levain should be 2 times the volume it was when you mixed it the previous day, with bubbles throughout and a leathery alcohol smell. Again, throw away about three-quarters of the mixture, leaving the remainder in the tub. Add 500 grams (3¾ cups + 2 tablespoons) of whole wheat flour and 500 grams (2¼ cups) of 90°F (32°C) water and mix by hand just until incorporated. Leave the mixture uncovered for 1 to 2 hours, then cover it and let it rest in a warm place. Later in the day the levain should have a distinctly pungent, “sour porridge” odor. Give it a whiff.
ANY TIME BEFORE NOON: The levain should again be back up to the 2-quart line of your 6-quart dough tub, with bubbles throughout. On Day 4, you’ll reserve a smaller amount of levain—throw away all but 200 grams (¾ cup) of the mixture. You will want to be accurate with this measurement, so use your scale and scoop out levain until the overall weight reading is 200 grams greater than the starting weight of the tub. Add 500 grams (3¾ cups + 2 tablespoons) of whole wheat flour and 500 grams (2¼ cups) of 90°F (32°C) water and mix by hand just until incorporated. Cover and let rest in a warm place.
Left to right: Mature levain, in the morning before feeding; preparing to remove all but 100 grams of mature levain; 100 grams of levain in the tub, ready for its next feeding; mature levain after the morning feed.
The levain culture should now be vigorous enough to use in any of the levain bread and pizza dough recipes in this book. The best cue that a levain is mature is when, 7 to 8 hours after the morning mix, it has a medium-ripe pungency and, if you wet your hand and pull out a chunk of it, you should feel its gassiness and be able to sense its weblike internal structure. It will be very goopy, with somewhat viscous texture. In any case, on Day 5 you’ll switch from building your levain to a regular feeding schedule, using 80 percent hydration, a blend of white and whole wheat flour, and slightly cooler water.
SOMETIME BETWEEN 7 AND 9 A.M.: Throw away all but 150 grams (½ cup + 1 tablespoon) of the mixture. Use your scale and scoop out levain until the weight is 150 grams greater than the starting weight of the empty tub. Add 400 grams (3 cups + 2 tablespoons) of white flour, 100 grams (¾ cup + ½ tablespoon) of whole wheat flour, and 400 grams (1¾ cups) of 85°F (29°C) water to the tub and mix by hand just until incorporated. Cover and let rest in a warm place.
By the afternoon, the levain should be ready for use in dough, so you’ll want to go ahead and read the next section, “Using Your Levain,” which explains how to maintain the levain culture, what to look for in a mature levain, and how to store and refresh the culture if you won’t be using it daily.
Every time I feed the levain in the morning, I enjoy the gassiness of the culture, which has expanded to three to four times its volume if I haven’t used any of it since the previous morning’s feeding. When the lid comes off, there’s a hot rush of alcoholic perfume. Let that pass, then stick your nose in the levain bucket and take in a big whiff. Get familiar with the fragrance of the levain at this stage and at the point when you’re measuring it out for use later in the day. These points of reference—volume and smell—are cues that will be your guide to the final result. With time, experience, and exposure to the process, you’ll come to trust your judgment.
With each recipe in chapters 9 through 11, if you follow my instructions on timing and water temperatures and use the precise measurements in this book, you can proceed with confidence. The biggest variable is going to be the ambient temperature. If your kitchen is significantly warmer or colder than mine, which typically hovers around 70°F (21°C) and gets down to about 65°F (18°C) at night, you may need to make adjustments. I suggest getting familiar with the way your levain smells when you take it out of its bucket to use in dough. That smell will directly translate to the flavor of the bread. See how you like the way the bread tastes. If it’s too tart or sour, you can adjust next time by using slightly cooler water when feeding the levain in the morning or by mixing the final dough a little earlier in the afternoon, when the levain isn’t as ripe. Likewise, if your kitchen is humid and a lot warmer than mine, say 80°F (27°C), then you may want to mix your final dough an hour or two earlier than the recipes prescribe. On the other hand, if you have a hot kitchen, you could follow the schedule I outline and discover that you like the taste of the bread from an extra-ripe levain, which is a little more pungent and sour. If your kitchen is a lot colder than mine, put on a sweater! And compensate by using water at about 95°F (35°C) when feeding the levain in the morning. When feeding the levain, the target temperature is 78°F to 80°F (26°C to 27°C) right after mixing.
This book has levain bread recipes that operate on different schedules. The recipes in chapter 9, Hybrid Leavening Doughsis bread that’s a bit darker and slightly, all follow the same schedule. You feed the levain in the morning, mix the final bread dough in the afternoon, divide and shape into loaves five hours later, and let the loaves rise slowly overnight in the refrigerator before baking them the next morning. The recipes in chapter 9 also use a small amount of baker’s yeast (added to the dough, not the levain) to give the bread a lighter crumb and a little extra lift, but their flavor and character are primarily influenced by the levain. The recipes in chapter 10, on the other hand, are pure levain doughs, without added baker’s yeast, and follow a different schedule. You feed the levain in the morning, mix the final dough early in the evening, let the dough undergo overnight bulk fermentation, divide and shape into loaves the next morning, and bake four hours later. Both methods use the same schedule for feeding, storing, and refreshing the levain. So you can let your schedule and taste preferences dictate which approach you use.
All of these breads are well worth the effort, and once you become accustomed to the process, it truly isn’t much effort. Time does most of the work.
The breads that result from these two methods—with added baker’s yeast and without—are not identical. Hybrid leavening breads have a lighter texture, more volume, and a thinner crust, whereas pure levain breads are pleasingly rustic, being a little less domed and slightly smaller and denser and having bigger holes and more chew to the crust (in a good way). If pure levain breads are baked completely to dark umber in spots, the crust flavors will permeate into the crumb of the bread assertively. Pure levain breads also have more zip on the palate—a bit of a tang, but hopefully not too much—whereas breads with hybrid leavening have a more delicate balance of flavors. I encourage you to try both kinds of recipes so you can learn about the pleasures of each style of levain baking and discover your own preferences.
The levain recipes in this book assume you have a mature levain culture. If you’re going to bake with your levain several days each week, you’ll want to have a daily routine for feeding the levain. You can do it each morning, ideally at about the same time, but it can vary by an hour or two in either direction without causing problems. When it’s time to feed the levain, use the following formula:
• 100 grams (⅓ cup + 1½ tablespoons) of levain (or a little more in winter; see “Seasonal Variations”)
• 100 grams (¾ cup + ½ tablespoon) of whole wheat flour
• 400 grams (3 cups + 2 tablespoons) of white flour
• 400 grams (1¾ cups) of water, 85°F to 90°F (29°C to 32°C), depending on the season (warmer in winter, cooler in summer)
The target temperature for the levain right after mixing is between 78°F and 80°F (26°C and 27°C). If you aren’t sure what temperature of water to use, measure the temperature of the levain after you’ve mixed it and adjust accordingly next time. Between feedings, cover the levain and let it rest at room temperature.
You can pare down the amount of levain, fresh flour, and fresh water used with each feeding as long as you maintain the same ratios. Here’s the formula for maintaining half the amount of levain:
• 50 grams (3 tablespoons) of levain
• 50 grams (⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon) of whole wheat flour
• 200 grams (1½ cups + 1 tablespoon) of white flour
• 200 grams (⅞ cup) of water, 85°F to 90°F (29°C to 32°C), depending on the season
When you remove all but 50 grams (3 tablespoons) of levain from your levain tub, it will look like there’s not much left other than an amount you would wash out. It’s not much, but it holds a lot of potential!
When you have thrown away all but 100 grams (⅓ cup + 1½ tablespoons) of the levain (think of it as spent fuel), zero the scale. Add the amount of fresh flour needed, then add the amount of water needed, at the specified temperature, and mix by hand just until incorporated. One note on hand mixing levain: These cultures are quite acidic. If you mix levain frequently and have sensitive skin, you might want to use vinyl disposable gloves. They’re handy to keep around anyway. I keep a box in my kitchen for various uses, like hand tossing salads.
After using your levain in a recipe, keep the remainder in its tub at room temperature. The next morning—when you regularly feed your levain—refresh the remainder as usual.
If you will not be making dough with your levain culture every day or don’t feel like feeding it every day, you need to have a plan for storing your levain on those off days and restoring it as needed. It’s best to store it in the refrigerator. After using it in a final dough mix, take about 300 grams (1 cup + 3 tablespoons) of the remaining levain, coat it with a film of water, and put it in a nonperforated plastic bag, then refrigerate for up to 1 month.
When you’re ready to use it again, you’ll need to plan ahead in order to bring it back and use it at full strength. Here’s the procedure I recommend:
STEP 1: TWO DAYS BEFORE YOU PLAN TO BAKE: Remove the levain from the refrigerator and put 200 grams (¾ cup) of it into your empty levain bucket. Discard the remainder. If possible, let the levain sit out at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes to warm up. Then add 100 grams (¾ cup + ½ tablespoon) of whole wheat flour, 400 grams (3 cups + 2 tablespoons) of white flour, and 400 grams (1¾ cups) of 95°F (35°C) water and mix by hand until just incorporated. Cover and let rest in a warm spot overnight.
STEP 2: THE MORNING OF THE DAY BEFORE YOU PLAN TO BAKE: Feed the levain again, using the same feeding you use for daily levain: Discard all but 100 grams (⅓ cup + 1½ tablespoons) of the levain. Add 100 grams (¾ cup + ½ tablespoon) of whole wheat flour, 400 grams (3 cups + 2 tablespoons) of white flour, and 400 grams (1¾ cups) of water at 85°F to 90°F (29°C to 32°C), depending on the season. Mix by hand until just incorporated.
You have now completed the first step of each of the levain recipes. Cover the levain and let it rest in a warm spot until you mix your dough later that day. After overnight bulk fermentation or proof, depending on the recipe, you will be ready to bake the next day.
