![]() ![]() Now see, I would look at the posted recipe with 20% whole wheat and 20% levain and say to myself. So for the final mix, you subtract the amount of flour and water you used in the levain from the overall formula, and add 135 g of levain. You make adjustments depending on your environment and how soon you want it ready. Why 20% of the starter as a seed for the levain? That is totally dependant on how long before you want to do the final mix, and what temperature you mature the levain in. In this way you have successfully pre-fermented 15% of the flour. 13 g is left over to feed the starter for next time. I am then left with 135 g for the final mix. When the levain is ripe, you remove the amount of starter used to seed it. I make sure the starter is the same hydration as the levain build. I will preferment 15% for this example with 100% hydration. He also gives the % of flour to pre-ferment. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! ![]() My gut tells me that they are treating the levain percentage as the total levain weight divided by the flour used in the final dough mix/autolyse, but I wanted to check with others to be sure. I see bakers include their levain percentage all the time, but I’m just not sure which method they’re using to calculate it. Is the levain 20% of (bread flour + the whole wheat flour) or is the levain 20% of (bread flour + whole wheat flour + the flour used in the levain itself). Then the levain could be different amounts according to which method is used. So, I wanted to check in with other breadheads more experienced than I - how do you calculate your levain percentage?ġ) Total levain weight divided by the flour weight of the final dough mix/autolyse Ģ) Total levain weight divided by the TOTAL flour used in the recipe, including the flour in the levain itself, orģ) Levain flour divided by TOTAL flour used in the recipe.įor example, if the recipe is as follows: These different methods, as I understand them, then lead to different ways to calculate the levain percentage. I've been reading Flour, Water, Salt, and Yeast by Ken Forkish as well as The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, and I've noticed that there are different ways to calculate baker's percentages. Minutes 5:20 to 7:30 of are a good illustration of the change in texture and consistency that you are looking for during proof.I've been diving deeper into baker's math and sourdough bread, and I have a question about how to calculate levain percentage. There are people on this forum way smarter than me, but I don't see any way to adapt this process for an unattended room-temperature overnight rise. That's what really transforms it from a sort of elastic batter into a coherent dough that's light and billowy but not wet. The other trick to getting ciabatta to not puddle sideways is several folds during the bulk rise, like every half hour to an hour until you have enough dough strength. I use the paddle on the Kitchenaid until it starts climbing the paddle, then switch to the hook until the dough lifts off the bottom as well as the sides of the bowl. You're almost certainly doing this, but just in case: an 80% ciabatta, which is my staple bread at the moment, needs really vigorous mixing to get a dough that doesn't just splodge sideways. What kind of water are you using, tap, bottled filtered, or bottled spring water? If tap water, what kind of treatment does it go through in the house? A softener? A filter on the tap? Tap water in some areas, such as Florida, can really mess up bread. So if you are using 75% water, plus what's in the levain, I'd suspect that maybe the recipe isn't clear.Ĥ. 75% for an entirely white flour bread is high. The flour may have absorbed moisture previously during humid times, and hasn't been exposed enough in dry times to release it.ģ. Current ambient humidity does not necessarily dictate the moisture in the flour. A good spreadsheet also makes it obvious.Ģ. A good recipe author specifies both gram weights and percentages in order to make it clear. I usually re-calculate the author's percentages from the gram weights to verify if they included the levain's water in the hydration figure. Some recipes are not clear whether the hydration % that they specify includes the water in the levain or not. ![]()
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