March 12, 2015 - 9:38am
Is there really a benefit in building this levain?
I'm in the process of building a new rye starter to make a 75% rye Baurenbrot and the beginning of the recipe has me thinking that it might be redundant so I wanted to get some thoughts from the experts.
It has you mix 200g rye flour and 200g water with 50g of Anstellgut, let it sit for 16 hours, reserve 50g for future starters, and then mix it with the rest of the ingredients.
Why wouldn't I just pull 400g of Anstellgut out? Or is the recipe just assuming I don't have this quantity from the start?
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Most people don't have 400 g of peaking starter hanging around and, since this is likely the case, by building the levain you can be sure to have 400 g of levain a is peak.
Yes, I think it is like dabrownman said, it is to ensure that you get the amount of Starter/ Anstellgut that you need for the bake.
Curious about the recipe, would you mind posting it for us please:)
Hi Petra,
Yes, I'd be happy to post the recipe. I made this once before and it turned out well but quite dense. I've since discovered that I didn't quite translate it properly and thus had significantly less levain that I should've. I figure I'll give it ago again in about a week and hopefully it'll hit the mark. Anyway, the recipe.
Levain:
200g rye flour
200g water
50g starter
Dough:
400g rye flour
200g spelt flour
320g water or buttermilk (last time I used water)
20g salt
2 tsp bread spices made up of 5 parts caraway, 3 parts anise seed, 3 parts fennel seed, and 1 part coriander
1.25g instant yeast (I just use a pinch since my scale won't go that low)
To create the levain, add the 3 ingredients and let stand at room temperature for 16 hours.
Remove 50g from levain and retain for future projects.
Mix the 400g of rye and 200g of spelt flour and set aside. In a bowl, mix 320g of water or buttermilk, 20g of salt, and approximately half of the flour mixture. Let rest for 30 minutes.
Add levain, pinch of yeast, bread spices, and enough flour to create a sticky dough and knead for about 10 minutes adding flour as necessary. Move to a floured bowl or brotform and let rise for 1-2 hours.
Preheat oven to 485F.
When dough is ready, turn out, slash the top and put into oven for 15 minutes.
Open door, mist the top of the bread, then close the door and reduce heat to 400F and bake for 20 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350F and bake until internal temp reaches 200F, approximately 15-20 minutes.
Pull it out, let it cool, eat it all.