August 7, 2011 - 9:56pm
Two pains au levain from Hamelman's "Bread"
This weekend, I made two of the pains au levain from Hamelman's Bread - The Pain au Levain, which Hamelman says is typically French, and the Pain Au Levain with Mixed Starters, which is made with both a white liquid starter and a rye starter. This bread also contains some whole wheat flour in the final dough.
Pain au Levain
Pain au Levain crumb
Pain au Levain with Mixed Starters
Pain au Levain with Mixed Starters crumb
Both of these are delicious breads. The Pain au Levain is mildly sour. The Pain au Levain is more sour, due to both the increased rye and an overnight cold retardation. It has a delicious, complex flavor.
Both these breads are highly recommended.
David
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Both look great, David! I was defeated once by the twin levain bread, but i'am willing to take up the challenge sometime soon.
Two breads I have not made and they both look great.
I will have to give them a try, thanks for posting.
Hi David,
The formulae are genreally failsafe, but your interpretations are as excellent as ever. Flavoursome crust and a lovely chewy gelatinised crumb. Lovely!
I frequently make a bread with twin levains, although I keep a stiff wheat levain and a liquid rye sourdough; that's always been the case throughout my breadmaking schooling.
Very best wishes
Andy
Your variations sounds well worth trying. The rye sourdough was extremely stiff, and it didn't rise much at all. However, it smelled very fruity.
David
Very nice. I have made both formulas, the mild flavor of Pain au Levain went over very well even with people who were not used to sourdough breads.
Lovely loaves, both of them, David! The crumbs are really beautiful.
I've never tried the one with mixed starters, but by looking at your picture, I'm really intrigued by the similarity of its colour to Poilane's loaf. Any similarity in the taste, too?
lumos
The flavor is not a lot like pain Poilâne except they are both tangy and complex.
The color of the Pain au Levain with mixed starters is light brown. Pain Poilâne is lighter in color and kind of grayish in color.
David
Thanks for reply, David. I was wondering if the colour of crumb (the one with mixed starter) might be slightly more orange-ish/redish because, I assumed, was taken with a flash or under a light in the evening....Is it not? So this (possibly wrong) assumption made me think the real colour might be a bit more greyish...just like Poilane. I'm quite familiar with Poilane, because, until quite recently, I used to buy that every time I went to Borough Market and also a selected branches of my favourite supermarket sell it, too. Suppose the tanginess of your bread is not as strong as Poilane's? I sometimes found their acidity a little too strong....
If the true colour of your bread is just like the photo, I like it even more. :)
lumos
The color is accurate.
The photo was taken without flash. My camera has settings for different kinds of lighting, and, by choosing the right one, I get very accurate color. I also do some minor adjustments, as needed, in Photoshop Elements before uploading photos.
David
Thanks, David.
Both of them. Very nice bakes.
Glenn
David
Nice shaping again, David. Great crumb, too.
Syd
David
I'm with Syd on your shaping David. Not that your molding has ever been poor, but it's become noticeably uniform and tight over the last several posts, and since your last SFBI class. I wonder if that experience is what's making the difference. Whatever the case, your loaves look like the kind of bread I'd go out of my way to buy, but the mixed sour loaf would be my choice for the stronger sour flavour, hard bake, and translucent crumb. Good baking David!
Franko
I'm really loving the bâtard shaping method from the KAF instructional videos. Note that the pain au levain was proofed en couche, and the mixed starter bread was proofed in cotton-lined brotformen. This shaping method clearly gives excellent results with either proofing technique.
David
The mixed starters must give your loaves a very delicous flavor. I have also noticed your shaping looks improved upon...even better than before. I think Franko said it nicely what I mean. I also think I would like to try Andy's liquid rye starter.
I enjoyed the video's very much. You had refered to them in another post. Today I bookmarked them. Each time I wanted to refer to the video to try the batard shaping method..I couldn't find it. Today and your very nicely shaped batards was a good reminder to find the videos and bookmark them for future reference. I kept forgetting how it was done...I think I've got it down now :)
Sylvia
For bâtard shaping, go to Hamelman technique videos and scroll down to the 4th video. The bâtard shaping segment is somewhere around 7 minutes into it, as I recall. I find it easy, and it gives great results.
Your latest WFO production made me hungry, and I just finished dinner!
David
Hi,
What starters do you keep? Do you have different blends, or do you create what you want from a "mother" specific to a formula? I see you play with the flours you chose to refresh. I have a 100% white, 100% 50/50 WW/white & a 56.3% white/rye/ww. Since the posting about starter hydration I have been wondering if I can just start from one?
Thanks
Margie
PS What is the Mondays with Dave?