Pain au Levain
I love to eat and bake all kinds of bread, so I thought I would start off my first post with the quintessential French sourdough bread. When I came to France for an extended stay I packed my two bags with all the essentials: five various sized bannetons, a well used piece of linen/couche, bench scrapers, instant read thermometers, my Ranco ETC microprocessor temperature controller(you’ll hear more about this in a later post), a bag dehydrated sourdough, some clothes etc. and two books… or should I say one and a half books. What… you say, half of book? Well… my autographed copy of Jeffrey Hamelman’s Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes, had totally fallen apart from use, so I decided to leave the half that uses commercial yeast at home and just take the sourdough recipes. The other book that found its way into my overstuffed bags was Daniel Leader’s Local Breads. I had just received it a week before leaving and had to finish it, I couldn’t put it down. I really enjoyed reading about Dan’s adventures seeking out the best of European handcrafted breads and the chefs that made them, from France to the Czech Republic. What I found most interesting were the inside stories behind the origins of the breads and particularly their Baker’s. The recipes are straightforward and easy to follow. Be warned, like any publication, there are some discrepancies/typos in his recipes. There has been an erratum put out by the publisher and, a lot more errors found by the baking community at the Fresh Loaf. What I like to do with a new recipe is to look over the formula and see if it makes sense? Do all the proportions will correct or put it on a bread spreadsheet to see what the percentages are? Until I get familiar with the recipe I usually withhold 10 to 15% of the water from the initial mix, some flour absorbs more water than others. It is easier to add more water if necessary to get the proper dough consistency desired. I followed the timing for this recipe basically straight from the book, but I did condense and added my own twist to some of the procedures. 
Pain au Levain
Adapted from Daniel Leader’s Local Breads
Desired dough temperature 76°
Levain Starter:
- 45 g stiff Levain starter
- 95 g Type 55 -style flour or all-purpose unbleached flour
- 5 g stone-ground whole wheat flour
- 50 g water
Ingredients:
- 350 g Type 55 style- or all-purpose flour (I used the T 65)
- 120 g stone-ground whole wheat flour
- 30 g fine or medium rye flour
- 350 g water
- 125 g stiff Levain
- 10 g salt
Bread method:
- Take your levain out of the refrigerator, weigh out the appropriate amount of starter and mash the levain with a whisk in a bowl with the water. Add the flours and stir with a spatula until it comes together. Turned out onto the work surface and knead to incorporate the flours. Place the Levain in a covered container and let it sit at room temperature (70 to 76°) for 8-12 hours or until it has doubled in volume and the surface is domed. Note: Make sure to use the appropriate amount of Levain called for in the recipe…the remaining amount can be refreshed and stored in frig for future use.
- Pour the water into a large mixing bowl or the bowl stand mixer. Combine the flour, whole-wheat flour and rye flour until all the ingredients are incorporated. Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes, while the flour hydrates and the gluten begins to develop. (I could not fit my Kitchen Aid Pro in my suitcase, so I mix by hand… I autolyse/rest for one hour before adding the Levain, which really helps the gluten development)
