Sourdough bread

28.3.20

Faire son pain au levain peut paraître compliqué au premier abord mais vous allez voir il n’y a rien de bien sorcier, juste un tour de main et de la patience ! Avec le confinement c’est devenu une habitude à la maison, j’ai donc sorti du sommeil (profond) mon levain Martin qui à 6 ans (oui je ne l’ai jamais fait mourir !). Si vous n’avez pas de levain de compagnie, pas de soucis, je vais vous donner la recette pour en adopter un et faire du pain au levain du feu de Dieu !

Le pain au levain ça demande de la patience,

ne comptez pas vous en sortir en quelques heures, You won't find that kind of recipe here.. Here we are talking about bread, real with a nice crust and a honeycomb crumb to die for. Don't worry if you don't think you have the knack, This comes with time and is normal., what I can tell you is that you will be proud to eat what you made with your own hands. Bread will soon have no more secrets for you, you can even start other recipes with your sourdough, such as chocolate bread or even focaccia. So let's go for the sourdough bread recipe, You follow me ?

Sourdough bread

POUR 2 MEDIUM BREADS OR 1 GROS

For the sourdough

100 g of chef's sourdough
50 g whole wheat flour
50 ml of water

For the dough bread

1 kg of whole wheat flour ( T110)
20 g of the end
650 ml of water +50 ml

The night before (J-2) : prepare the leaven, for this take 100 g of your sourdough starter (refreshes the day before) and mix it thoroughly with 50 g of flour and 50 ml of water. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
The next morning (J-1) : in a mess, put the flour, 650 ml of water and your sourdough from the day before.
To know if your sourdough is ready you can do the flotation test, for this, take a tablespoon and pour your sourdough into water. If it floats, it’s ready. !
Knead briefly so that no more flour is visible. Leave to rise covered 30 minutes.
At the end of 30 minutes, add the salt and 50 ml of water then knead again to obtain a smooth dough.
Pour into a tray or large oiled salad bowl, cover with a cloth and leave to rise for 1 hour.
After an hour, wet your hands and fold the dough several times, bringing the corners towards the center, then leave to rest for 1 hour again, covered.
Repeat this operation 3 once again.
Pour the dough onto a floured work surface, divide into two balls if necessary, Bend, turn the loaves over and leave to rest 20 minutes as such on the work surface.
Place the pasta(es) in floured banneton(s), fold up, cover and leave to cool 24 h.
D-day, preheat the oven to 250° with a baking tray or refractory stone and a bowl of water for humidity.
Unmold the bread onto a board covered with baking paper, flour the surface of the bread and nibble the bread (incise with a blade) the pattern of your choice.
Slide the bread with the paper into the oven.
Cook 15 minutes at 250° then 20-25 minutes at 220° for the dough divided in two or 30 minutes at 250° and 35-40 min at 220° for a large loaf.
Take the bread out and let it cool on a wire rack for at least 3 hours before tasting it !

Leaven

For the start

50 g of whole grain flour
50 ml of water

In a big jar, mix the flour and water together to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
Put the lid on the jar without closing it and let it ferment 3 days at room temperature.
At the end of days, empty half of the jar (throw away this leaven or integrate it into a pancake batter for example) and add 50 g of rye flour and 50 ml of water. Stir vigorously then place the lid on top.
let stand 24 h, the sourdough will double in size.
Here is the leaven is ready, you have to feed him every day 5-7 days if kept cool, with the same weight in flour (whole wheat or rye) than in water (example 50 g of flour for 50 grams of water).

*Note : the amount of water to use may vary depending on the type of flour used, stone ground or not, grain… The wetter the dough, the more complicated it will be to handle.