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.