Pain au Levain

Pain au Levain with more Rye

Today is my own Bread Baking Day.

For BBD#39 of April 2011 we were asked to bake Salt rising bread. I tried a few times to get the starter going, but beside from a bad smell nothing happened. But, luckily some others succeeded.

Almost every week I bake bread, but April was a difficult month. The weather changed so much this month it looked like rainy season had started 3 months early. “Normally” during April it is the hottest month of Thailand. The Thai New Year, Songkran, is held in April. During these 3 days everybody throws water at each other. This is happy event because it is so hot, you enjoy this cool water. But because of the rainy weather even the children threw less water. But, what ever happens, we all enjoyed Songkran.

Today it’s 31˚C in my kitchen en I’m loving it. No rain today, blue sky and sunny. I found beautiful loaves made by Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies. I made one big loaf and found the photos on how to make Epi at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. The next day I baked another Pain au Levain, but with more rye. It looks and taste great!

The other side also looks great

This is a great recipe, you really should try this. Because of the levain you get bread that taste like French bread, a lot of flavor, a thick crust and soft and moist crumb. We love it.

Epi, fun to make and great to eat

This is what I used for one big loaf and one small Epi:
for the Levain
130 gr (4.6 oz) all purpose flour
8.5 gr (0.3 oz) rye flour
85 gr (3 oz) water
28 gr (1 oz) mature sourdough culture
For the final Dough
731 gr (1 lb, 9.8 oz) bread flour
36 gr (1.3 oz) rye flour
504 gr (1 lb, 1.8 oz) water
18 gr (1 Tbsp) salt

The taste was great

All levain
This is what I did:
The night before: Mix levain ingredients in a bowl, cover and let rest for 14-16 hours at room temperature.

Baking day:
Mix all ingredients, except salt and levain, in the mixer. Mix for 2 minutes until roughly combined on a low speed. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. All rising times depend on the temperature of your kitchen.
Add salt and levain, in chunks. Mix on medium speed with the dough hook until thoroughly combined. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover for about 2 – 2,5 hours. After about 1 hour fold the dough (in the bowl or on a lightly floured counter) and let rise another 1¼ hours.

Shape into a batard and let proof for 2 - 2.5 hours.
Preheat oven to 230°C. Score and bake the loaf for about 15 minutes with steam and another 25 minutes without or until nicely colored and an internal temperature of 92°C.

Let cool on a wire rack.

I found this at Natashya’s Living in the kitchen with puppies
I send this to Yeastspotting


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