The Fresh Loaf

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used too much levain

Craig_the baker's picture
Craig_the baker

used too much levain

So, in my haste to get things going this morning, i used twice as much levain as was called for in the recipe. What arr some of the ramifications of doing this?

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

dought might develop, ferment and proof twice as fast and be more sour.    Depending on the hydration of the levain,. the hydration will be more or less than what the recipe called for.   Since recipes can call for 10% to even 50% of the the total weight of the dough, it probably won't make much difference unless your recipe called for 30to 50% of the total weigh to begin with.

If you want sour - you will like the results and if you don't you may not.

You can always add some more of the other ingredients too and end up baking a bigger batch closer to the original recipe.