With or Without Levain?
Affiliate links are included in this blog. If you make a purchase using these links, I might earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Win-Win!
Will using a levain make my sourdough shine?
Here we are, a bread-baking day at Sweet Herbin’ Livin’, and I decided to make bread using a levain. I also wanted to test and see the difference between using a levain and NOT using a levain.
I’ve been mostly happy with the Kamut sourdough bread I’ve been baking. But I want it to have more structure. More rise. Larger crumb.
If you’ve watched my videos on sourdough, you’ve seen that I gave myself an extra challenge in learning to bake this favored bread by using Kamut flour – a flour made from an ancient grain – rather than using bread flour, flour that has been processed so that it makes light and fluffy bread.
Shout out to my friend DJ. She sent me a link from The Perfect Loaf and I discovered something called a levain.
You know me, I had to make my task even MORE CHALLENGING as I also decided to bake bread the way I had been doing it before DJ shared a link to The Perfect Loaf about how to stretch and fold your sourdough properly. I learned that and so much more. I have been using a recipe for Kamut sourdough bread I found from The Rose Homestead. And you know what? It’s been great. It tastes great and Mr. Sweet and I get to have bread regularly without gumming up our lymphatic system and making our joints hurt. A BIG WIN THERE!
In my experiment on this day, I made three loaves of bread:
I made one loaf using the recipe from The Rose Homestead. NO LEVAIN
I also made two loaves (one recipe makes two loaves) from The Perfect Loaf using a LEVAIN
The results? Watch below as Mr. Sweet and I do a TASTE TEST at the end.
Levain, also known as a sourdough starter, is a mixture of flour and water that's fermented by natural yeasts and bacteria. How does it differ from a regular sourdough starter? And does it make a difference if you don’t use a levain?
According to The Perfect Loaf, preferments such as sourdough starter have many names! You may have heard some of them: chef, lievito madre, mother dough, mum. In his article, “What is a Levain and How is it Different from a Starter?”, Leo tells us that, “a preferment is essentially a mixture of flour, water, and a leavening agent (in our case, a sourdough starter) left to ferment before mixing everything into a final dough. Preferments help bring flavor, aroma, and keeping qualities to your bread.”
I learned from Leo that instead of putting my sourdough starter directly into the recipe along with the salt, I should create a levain first so that the salt in the recipe doesn’t inhibit the growth of the yeast and enzymes.
As I want my Kamut sourdough loaves to have a stronger structure and better crumb, I decided to try his recipe and mixing methods.
The fermentation process in the sourdough starter and the levain breaks down complex carbohydrates, making it easier to digest and unlocking essential nutrients. Plus, it helps to extend the shelf life of your bread. And what I learned is that using a levain gives my dough better structure and a better rise!
Since making this video, I’ve made two more batches of bread using the levain with BETTER RESULTS!
RESOURCES:
“What is a Levain” from The Perfect Load
Kamut Sourdough Recipe from The Rose Homestead
SHOPPING LIST:
🌟WonderMill wheat mill
🌟Banneton round & Dough kit
🌟Oval Banneton
🌟Cheesecloth organic cotton, unbleached grade 90
🌟Kamut berries 25 lb.
🌟Kamut flour - (for those who don't have a wheat mill)
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you so much for your support!
