How To Bake Sourdough Bread Using A Levain

I love, love, love sourdough bread! I’ve been baking sourdough loaves for several months and every time I bake up a loaf I learn a little more and get better and better results with each loaf I pull out of the oven. Two things I’m always trying to improve on is developing the best sour flavored loaves and getting a lighter, airier, fluffier interior. Getting the flavor right has been easier than getting that lighter, airier crumb. My biggest challenge? Most of the loaves I’ve baked up are a little more dense than I would like. So the quest for the perfect process that works for me to bake up a delicious, fluffy on the inside, chewy, crunchy crust loaf of sour dough bread continues.

Jump to Recipe

To be honest there are as many techniques to baking sour dough bread as there are people out there sharing what works best for them. I’ve tried several different methods and gotten excellent results, much better than anything I’ve purchased at the store. Some methods call for stretching the dough at regular intervals. Some don’t require any stretching at all. I’ve even had excellent results with on overnight method that calls for almost no hands on time at all. All produce lovely loaves and why one is better than another is all about the timing and what you can reasonably work into your life.

Many of my friends have found a technique that works beautifully for them. Not only do you want a technique that produces delicious loaves of bread but it also has to work with your schedule. Baking a loaf of sour dough bread is a long process which can be a challenge when you’re a working mom with kids that have after school activities. That’s why summer time might be the best time to give sourdough bread baking a try. Life isn’t usually as chaotic and busy and the pace of life slows down.

I’ve been reading a lot about using a Levian when baking with a sourdough starter. In the past I didn’t give it much attention. It just seemed like another step in the already long process of baking a loaf of sour dough bread. Seriously, who wants to add another 3-5 hours to the process? But when those light as air loaves with those lovely air holes kept popping up on my social media feeds, I have to confess I got a serious case of sour dough bread envy. Those loaves with their light as air, fluffy interiors have got me wanting to up my sourdough bread game. Maybe it’s time to learn more about what a Levain is and how it might improve the texture of my bread. Let’s see if using a Levain actually makes a difference. Are you ready to learn along with me?

Before we start with the Levain we need to start at the beginning and address the starter. Make sure your starter is active and bubbly and at its peak.

If you have questions about how to maintain or revive a forgotten starter for sour dough baking check out this post for the easy steps for How To Revive & Strengthen A Sourdough Starter. Even if it’s been pushed to the back of the refrigerator, forgotten for weeks or even months on end. Don’t despair, you can revive it and get it going again. 

Make the Levain:

The Levain for this recipe calls for equal amounts of (85 grams of each) 1 part active starter, 1 part lukewarm water, and 1 part flour, a 1: 1: 1 ratio. This is used to make the Levain. Mix together in a jar and let it ferment for 3-4 hours. The ideal ambient temperature in your kitchen should be between 78-80 degrees F. If it’s warmer than that the levain will ferment quicker and be ready to use sooner. If your kitchen is cooler it will slow down the fermentation of the Levain and take longer until it’s ready to use.

Stir ingredients together and cover jar.

At first you might think it’s the same as your sour dough starter, and technically it is the same thing. The levain is just a bit of starter that you separate and feed so that the total volume is enough for your recipe. It’s a small amount of your starter that is mixed with fresh flour and water and left to ferment. You will sometimes see it called mother dough, mother sponge, starter dough, or sponge. All these terms are used interchangeably for a Levain.

Once you mix the Levain just keep an eye on it and check on it at regular intervals. Allow Levain to ferment until it is active and bubbly and has doubled in size, about 3-4 hours.

Levain will have sour scent when it is ready to be used with visible bubbles.

Make the loaf:

Place 600 grams all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten, and 12 grams of Kosher salt in a large mixing bowl.

Stir to combine the dry ingredients. 

Add 400 grams water, and the ripe Levain to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.

Stir together with a Dutch dough whisk or a wooden spoon until you have a lumpy, shaggy, dough and the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the dough.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest for 1 hour.

FIRST STRETCH & FOLD: After one hour, wet hands. Stretch and fold dough 4-5 times, turning bowl a quarter turn after each stretch and fold. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest for 1 hour.

SECOND STRETCH & FOLD: After one hour, wet hands. Stretch and fold dough 4-5 times, turning bowl a quarter turn after each stretch and fold. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest for 1 hour.

THIRD STRETCH & FOLD: After one hour, wet hands. Stretch and fold dough 4-5 times, turning bowl a quarter turn after each stretch and fold. 

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest for 1-2 hours until dough puffs in the center.

Try to maintain temperature between 78-80℉.

When bulk fermentation is complete, the surface should have some visible bubbles that have formed and dough pulls and rolls away from the sides..

Keep checking dough every 30 minutes until it has completed the bulk fermentation process. Dough will jiggle when you shake the bowl and it will increase significantly in volume during this bulk fermentation process

Place covered bowl in the refrigerator overnight. Dough will cold ferment and sourdough flavor will intensify during this long cold fermentation. The dough can be left in the refrigerator for 12 to 48 hours.

When ready to bake, remove the bowl of dough from the refrigerator. This is what the dough looked like after 12 hours in the fridge.

Place a Dutch oven pot in the oven and preheat oven to 500 ℉.

Lightly flour work surface and remove dough from the bowl.

Use your hands to shape the dough into a round boule pulling the dough out from the top center and down along the bottom edges, turning the loaf a quarter turn and pulling it toward you as you stretch the dough to help develop the gluten strands. Flour your hands if the dough sticks to them. Refrigerating the dough should make it easier to work with than dough that hasn’t had a long cold ferment.

Dust the top of the loaf with flour and transfer formed loaf onto a sheet of parchment paper.

Cover with a bowl and allow the dough to rest as the Dutch oven pot preheats in the oven for 30-45 minutes.

Using oven mitts, carefully remove the hot Dutch oven pot from the oven.

Score the loaf with a sharp knife.

Use the four corners of the parchment paper to lower the dough into the Hot Dutch oven pot, being careful not to burn yourself. 

Place the lid on the pot and return it to the oven.

Immediately lower oven temperature to 450℉ and bake loaf for 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, remove the lid and continue to bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. The longer the loaf bakes the crunchier the crust will be. 

Remove from oven and lift loaf out of the pot. Place loaf on a cooling rack and allow loaf to cool completely before slicing into it.

A huge thank you, thank, thank you, to Amy at Amybakesbread.com for this fantastic recipe and technique. She was the one that finally inspired me to try using a Levain for making sour dough bread, and boy am I glad I did. Yes it adds to the overall time to make a loaf but I love the results I’m getting with my sour dough loaves. My loaves are turning out much lighter and fluffier than ever before! And the flavor is much better!

She also turned me on to adding vital wheat gluten to all purpose flour to increase the protein content which produces stronger strands of gluten in the dough that trap the gasses resulting in airier, fluffier loaves of bread. I love that I don’t have to stock several different types of flour in my pantry, I can just add some vital wheat gluten to APF and get the same results I would get if I was baking with a higher protein bread flour.

GOOD TO KNOW: You can find vital wheat gluten in the bulk bins at most major grocery store chains, or look for it in the baking isle near the flour. Add 1 teaspoon of vital wheat gluten to each cup of all purpose flour to increase the protein content.

I love Amy’s easy to understand directions and step-by-step instructions for her recipes. Be sure to head over and check out her beautiful website for more bread baking ideas! She will inspire you to try baking all sorts of bread, and shares a wealth of knowledge with her readers.

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