Success with P-Dee, Well Almost

P-Dee has won the race!

Previously I had split Dee Dee (the original levain) into two separate jars for some troubleshooting. Whea-Dee was kept in the fridge and fed wheat flour twice per week, while P-Dee was kept on the counter and fed all-purpose flour daily. Wednesday night (3 feedings ago) I noticed that P-Dee smelled like a very lovely beer. This is a good sign that yeast cultures are doing their thing. I continued regular, nightly feedings of 4 oz. of water and 4 oz. of all-purpose flour (added to 4 oz. of P-Dee, the remainder was discarded). The smell became more and more rich each night. Last night (Friday) I asked the husband if I should go ahead and try baking. I noted, however, that it had still not doubled in size. The expectation for a healthy levain is to double in size within 6-8 hours (12-24 in the fridge). Although the smell was brilliant and on spot, the size just wasn't there. This morning when I woke up:  PERFECT! The jar I use has cup measurements on the side and P-Dee had expanded from the 1.5 cups to the 3 cup mark. I was so thrilled! Immediately, I began prepping for some baking.

I looked through my Baking with Natural Yeast book, which has been somewhat disappointing lately, and decided I didn't really want to use the recipe in there. For one, it uses measurements by cup instead of by weight, and my experience so far has been much better using my scale. So I pulled out my trusty More with Less book, but couldn't find a simple recipe that I could convert to use the levain instead of commercial yeast. So next, I went to the internet. I tried the two sources posted previously:  King Arthur Flour and NaturalLeavening.com. King Arthur, again, mentions sourdough baking but does not necessarily provide recipes for a maintained levain. The other site has some good looking advice and recipes. I clicked on a basic dough recipe. I followed this so far, except this recipe includes no mention at all of kneading. (strange) I decided to put the dough hook on my mixer and knead the dough until it had almost passed the window test (stretch the dough between your fingers, if it breaks instead of stretching into a translucent dough, then it isn't ready yet). I also removed the dough and oiled a bowl, put a hot, damp towel over the top and then left it to rise. In 8-12 hours, I will either have another brick, or have a doubled-in-size dough ball.

From there, I will attempt to bake in a normal loaf pan. Updates to come on how the first loaf turns out!

Levain: French term for a bread leavening agent

Time for some experimentation. I’ve been trying to get my levain (natural yeast starter) going for a few months. According to my original resource book, which I am now discovering contains various annoying errors, I should be able to bake bread by now. This is not the case. My book talks about the levain doubling in size after feedings, but mine never has. It stays the same size and just slowly “fizzes.” No big happy bubbles like expected. I have successfully created a few batches of waffles and crepes, but when I finally ventured into the full loaf of bread arena, I discovered a lifeless blob of dough in the morning. Solution:  more research.

I have come across these helpful websites:

http://www.naturalleavening.com/kitchen-help-recipes/ - recommended by my book, this site also sells “old world” levains.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/04/08/maintaining-your-sourdough-starter-food-water-and-time/ - this website just happens to be the brand of the flour I have been buying and contains loads of good info, although they refer to everything as a sour dough starter, which I view as something slightly different.

While tempted to chunk out the levain I have lovingly nicknamed DeeDee, I have decided to hold off and try a few experiments. The Natural Leavening website has a sale on their Hard White Wheat Levain, but I really am determined to succeed with what I have.

First, according to King Arthur, when storing a sour dough starter in the fridge, you prevent daily feeding and can use weekly feeding. This is relatively accurate to what I have been doing, except I feed twice a week. They mention that the starter should then be left at room temperature and fed daily just before using to bake. This gets the yeast working and ready to go. This makes since, but contradicts what my original book states and what the Natural Leavening site claims. These sources say it should be ready to use with just one 12-hour rise. I am open-minded, however, and will be splitting my levain tonight and using the room temperature, daily feeding method. I will also reduce this portion to 4 oz. and use feedings of 4 oz. water and 4 oz. flour to save on flour.

Second, the King Arthur website also mentioned some interesting details about types of flour. In response to one question on their blog, they noted that unless the starter was to be refrigerated, it should be fed all-purpose flour. Wheat flour has a tendency to go bad at room temperature. They also noted that the use of whole wheat flour is a good idea due to the presence of more lactobacilli and wild yeast, which can be less likely in the “more sterile” all-purpose flour. For this reason, the other half of Dee Dee will remain in the fridge, but I will begin feeding this one with whole wheat flour twice per week.

Third, I have become aware of the importance of measuring weight for feeding instead of volume. Both sites mentioned the importance of weight. I happen to have a food scale, bought years ago, that has been living on my husband’s workbench to weigh remote-control airplane parts. Now I finally have a good excuse to steal it back. One problem I may have been having is the difference between volume and weight! My original book stated 1 cup of water and 1 heaping cup of flour. Out of curiosity I just measured the weight of what I have been feeding Dee Dee. I have been feeding 8 oz. of water but only 5 oz. of flour! That is a big difference! The poor dear has been starving, no wonder she isn’t happy!

With this information, I venture forward in the world of growing healthy, happy bread in my own home. Whether it is the temperature of my refrigerator, the type of wheat, or the amount of wheat, I will discover my faults. If none of the above works, then it is time to purchase a levain and try again.

So long Dee Dee, now I have Whea-Dee and P-Dee.