STUART Bread Master Class 4 - Pain au Levain
This continues Dad superb round of bread-making classes. It uses the starter that was explained in Class 3 (you’ll need a read through and a week).
He also put me onto this gem from Doves Farm, see below (all for £11, which really isn’t bad is it)
1kg Organic Plain Flour (White or Wholemeal)
1x 1kg Organic Self Raising Flour (White or Wholemeal)
2x 1.5kg Organic Bread Flours (White and/or Wholemeal)
2x 1kg Organic Speciality Flours (e.g. Spelt, Rye, Malthouse or others)
1x 125g Quick Yeast
I’ll now hand over to Dad….
STUART
Today, or rather tomorrow, you are going to make pain au levain. But before we delve into the dark arts of great bread making a few words about perspective.
They often say that you have to be at least 40 y.o. before you can appreciate a garden or gardening. Obviously a select few do appreciate them earlier and girls get it quicker than boys. The wonders of a herbaceous border just pass younger people by.
The same is true of cask ale. Except fortunately realisation comes a little earlier for most. And this time it’s quicker for boys than girls.
It’s also true of fine wine. Except sadly true appreciation eludes most of us for most of our lives.
The common link between each of my examples is that they are all a blend of the wonders of nature and human genius. As the story goes, the chatelaine of a great house said to her gardener : “How wonderful nature is. The beauty of all these plants, flowers and trees reflect the greatness and brilliance of the Almighty”. The gardener pondered her words then said slowly and thoughtfully. “Well ma’am I ‘m not so sure about that. You should have seen the state it was in before I got to work on it.”.
Cask beer is brewed with the genius of the master brewer with the ingredients of barley, water and yeast and then put in a cask where it goes on living and growing into a beverage only rivalled by malt whisky. And there’s another example of something we take time to appreciate and the whisky takes quite a time to achieve itself.
You may think I am going off topic. But there’s a great truth here. If you point nature in the right direction there are wonders to be achieved. and so it is with pain au levain.
Lesson 1 - The structure of pain au levain and the sponge
So often with a recipe you’re told to do (a) then (b) for 6.7 min then add 1.26g of something, separate (d) from (e) etc.. What you’re never told is why. And I personally think good baking is not about following instructions but understanding what you are doing and why. So let’s begin with the structure of pain au levain.
Sitting on the counter next to you, I anticipate at this moment, is the levain you have carefully nurtured for the last week or so. What you have created so far is not dough or bread. For a start you may have noticed that the ratio of liquid to flour is in inverse proportion to that in bread dough i.e. 5 parts water to 3 parts flour instead of 3 parts water to 5 parts flour. Now that ratio is the key. You will always use your levain in that ratio. Actually some bakers, or those claiming to be bakers, will suggest a different ratio. Resist them. That ratio will always work. Their’s might or might not.
The reason for the ratio is that it allows fermentation. Too wet and there is not enough flour to feed the yeast microbes. Too much flour and the chemical reaction of fermentation is stifled.
So this levain will always remain your levain. Philosophically it is actually always changing just like your body and brain (making the assumption of course). But that colony of sour smelling microbes will continue like the human race for as long as you nurture it. Its individual members will come and go. But it will remain.
Now this levain is going to be used and reused by you. But each time it is used it has to be beefed up. Its ratio is duplicated in the flour and water you will add it to.
Lesson 2 - The dough making and rising
So , assuming you want to make two good sized loaves you are going to put 500g of strong white bread flour in a large mixing bowl. You’ll remember from the last blog that we have decided for this first pain au levain to use strong white bread flour rather than anything else. That will change possibly. But just for now let’s keep it simple.
To the 500g of strong white bread four you are going to add a ladle of your levain. How big is a ladle? (Editor Note - Dad’s ladles are 125ml) It doesn’t really matter. You’ll find lots of American recipe sites which measure it in micro grammes. Pointless. It’s a ladle full. Much, much, more than a tablespoon but less than a mug. About half an American cup full perhaps.. But it really doesn’t matter because - you’re now going to add 600ml of water. Now mix it all together thoroughly, Cover it over (I always use my black bin liner) and place somewhere warm overnight. Yep. Overnight. So if you do this in the evening that’s good although TIME IS NOT CRITICAL as long as it has had at least 6-8 hours.
WARNING: Do not ever believe recipes which talk about “quick” pain au levain. There is NO SUCH THING. God works at his own speed and never more so that in making bread with the ingredients He has given us. Levain needs time. But it’s not time critical. It’s a bit like stage coach travel compared with the railway. Pre-railway you left London in the morning and got to Reading in the evening if the footpads had not got you first. When the GWR came you left London at 4pm and arrived at Reading at about 5pm (or 9pm in latter days). Time was now measured in minutes not hours. Levain timing is measured in hours not minutes.
In the morning you will lift the cover off your container and you will see a gently fermenting sponge. Not dough, Sponge (or levain just to confuse). Add salt. A good dollop say 25g. You can also add oil at this point. Optional entirely. If you do I’d go with about 3 to 4 tablespoons.
Now into this bowl pour the same amount of strong white bread flour that you put in first - 500g. Now you have dough.
This dough will be lovely to work with. At first it will be very sticky. I mix it in the bowl with my fingers because I’m like that. When it’s come together enough to lift out do so on to a floured surface. You may want to add a little more flour or a little more water but I doubt it.
Have plenty of flour next to you to use at this stage for kneading etc... I tend to use the flour or one of the flours I have put into the dough. But you do not have to.
Now knead the flour. And here there are genuinely different and valid views as to how to proceed.
First method
Knead for about 5-10 minutes. It will get less sticky but will always be beautifully silky and, well, glutinous. You can do the things you did to bread made with dried yeast but I find that you really don’t need to do very much.
When you’re happy that it is less sticky, and lovely and smooth you can do the folding in the pictures below. First flatten into a pizza. Then prod all over with your fingertips. After that fold around 8 times into the centre using just a finger or two and your thumb. Turn over and do the pulling and pushing action by putting your hands under opposite sides and turning like a steering wheel but twisting the steering wheel itself.
Form into a ball, cover with flour and put into the (cleaned) mixing bowl also suitably floured, place in black bin liner and put in warm place.
Now do this about every hour 3 or 4 times more. After each extra kneading put back in the black bin liner in a warm place.
So knead, form into a ball, cover in flour, put into bin liner, leave for about an hour in a warm place and repeat 3 times.
Alternative method
Knead for no more than 5 minutes, don’t do the pizza stuff or anything, just form into a ball, cover in flour. Place back in cleaned bowl, put into black bin liner, and leave in a warm place for about an hour. Repeat 3 times more.
The difference between the first method and the alternative method is that the alternative will produce looser dough and possibly softer bread. My advice is try both at different times. And you may vary it between different flours.
3. Proving
If you used the quantities suggested you will make two good sized loaves. And this is how you do it.
After the last rising remove the dough from the bowl and divide into 2 equal lumps. Again you now have two alternatives:
First method
Roll the dough into a baguette shape about two to three times the diameter of the ball. Fold one end back on to the dough to about 2/3rds of the way along. Fold the second end over the two folder lengths. You now have a length of dough 1/3rd the eight of the original baguette shape. Do this a couple of times.
Now flatten the dough into a squarish shape and fold one side into the middle and then the opposite side into the middle . Now roll it all up together. This is putting structure into the dough.
Now form into a ball cover in Rye flour or whatever coating you wish an place on floured board. Do this with each ball of dough. Put back into the bin liner and leave to prove for about 2-3 hours. This time is not critical.
Alternative method
Form the dough into a ball. Cover with Rye flour or whatever you have chosen and place on floured board, place in the bin liner and leave to prove for 2-3 hours.
4. Baking
1. Heat up your chosen baking tray in the oven to be ready for the risen (it is risen indeed`) dough. Also place boiling water in a large dish at the bottom of the oven to provide steam. Have the oven go up to about 220, gas mark 7.
2. Being careful not to incinerate your hand place the ball on the baking tray. Dust with a bit more Rye flour.
3. Make a cross in the top with a serrated bread knife down to about the top edge of the knife. Or you can do the outline of a rectangle. Or an H. Or frankly whatever you fancy. If you can, spray some water on the bread.
4. Place the baking tray into the oven and, if you can, chuck in a cupful of water to produce instant steam. Close the door. Do not open for at least 15 minutes for any reason.
5. Pain au levain is very robust and benefits from a really good crust. So you will probably bake this for about 45 minutes. You want a nice darkish crust if possible. If you over bake the worst that will happen is that the crust is slightly burnt, my particular favourite. The bread will be fine.
6. When baked, remove and place on a trivet. It will continue baking for about 30 mins or more.
CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE MADE YOUR FIRST PAIN AU LEVAIN.
In the next lesson we’ll discuss how you nurture and educate your levain long term. In the meantime remember IT NEEDS A FEED. With the quantities we have been using you want to end up with about 800g of levain after each feeding. So weigh what you have left and bring it back to whack with flour and water in the 3/5 ratio we have discussed.
