January 26, 2021 - 7:56pm
High Hydration vs Low Hydration Levain
My background in sourdough baking we always used a hight hydration sourdough (100%) for all our wheeat based baking. I have recently been playing with panettone in the traditional style, and all the recipes I have been using use a low hydration (~50%) levain.
It would be very easy to convert the panettone recipes to use a 100% levain.
Does anyone know the technical reason for this, using a low hydration levain ... or is it 'tradition' coming out o the Italian tradition of using a biga which is also very stiff.
TIA,
Joe S.