The first loaves

I didn't mean to get you excited. There is no first loaf. That's becasue you have to create your levain. This is only a five day process. Oh yes, and after you create your levain, you have to feed it. It really makes me wonder what I've done. What have I done? I've created an entity that needs constant feeding, takes up space in my refrigerator, needs special tools and stuff and oh yeah, it is so worth it. Did I mention that?

Needless to say we had never done this. I was a wreck. And of course, I had jumped in without knowing anything about the tools that I would need. And being headstrong and stubborn, I forged ahead.

Day One

 I measured out the flour- 500 grams whole wheat and 500 grams of water which had to be a 90 degrees.

I mixed with my hands and made this into a slurry as directed. then I let it sit uncovered for 1-2 hours at which time I covered it with press and seal. Since we live in Hawaii where the normal day time temperature is around 85, I didn't have to worry about keeping th kitchen at the recommended 75 degrees. It was highly unlikely that it would even drop below that in the night. 

Day Two

At this point you throw away 3/4 of the initial mix. We thought that was rather wasteful but did it anyway. Then you "feed the levain". You add 500 grams of whole wheat flour and then  again 500 grams of water (90 degrees), mis by hand until just mixed and cover for a few hours, then cover and let it rest. The levain mixture does actually expand to about 3 times its original size.

Are you starting to see how I could get nervous? What if I put in all this work and then had to start over?

Day Three

The levain has now risen and has a very good smell, one that you need to become familiar with. It smells slightly of alcohol and the bottom notes of yeast. So, again you throw out abotu 3/4 of the mix and feed it again. 500 grams of whole wheat and 500 grams of water. Leave it uncovered for a few hours then cover and let it sit out overnight.

Day Four

On day four you throw everything away except 200 grams of the mixture. To that you add the 500 grams of whole wheat and the 500 grams of water. Same as before uncovered and covered.

Day Five

The culture is now ready. Throw all away except for 150 grams of it. To this add 400 grams  of white flour, 100 grams of whole wheat and 400 grams of 85 degree water. Mix by hand. That afternoon, your levain is ready to use.

This process seemed so strange to me. It was nerve racking as I said and I was terrified that I would do something wrong. Mind you, I've been baking bread since I was twenty and this was brand new. 

My husband and I decided to start with the yeasted breads first. It was a bit later that I realized that I wanted to blog about it decided to go through the book recipe by recipe.

The first bread we made was the 75% Whole Wheat Levain Bread. There are several steps and you don't actually get to bake the bread on the first day like you would with a normal yeast bread. First you have to go through the whole "feeding process". That is one thing that really bothers both of us. You throw so much away. I wish I could find another way. None the less, after the feeding, you begin the autolyse process 6 to 8 hours later. This is where you again add the whole wheat, white and water to the levain. The amounts are much larger and you let it rest for a half hour.

The next step is when you mix the final dough incorporating the levain. Five hours after this, you divide the dough and shape it. It will proof in the refrigerator overnight for 12 to 13 hours.

It truly is very time consuming and you have to make sure you can keep the schedule. You also have to make sure about when you can bake the bread. Sam and I have worked it out over several weeks. 

The bread gets baked in a dutch oven with the cover on for part of the baking and then off. It truly does come out wonderful.