Sourdough bread most popular for it's sour flavor, chewy texture, and easy digestion. It's made with just a few simple ingredients and relies on a natural leavening agent, like sourdough starter or levain for its rise.

These leavening are made of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria, that grow within a sourdough starter or levain. The yeast in this natural starter creates air bubbles, making sourdough bread fluffy, while the bacteria produce lactic acid, create that sour aroma and give sourdough its characteristic sour taste.
Main Differences Sourdough Starter vs. Levain
Both types of liquid starter, sourdough starters and levains, are essential to the sourdough baking process.
- Mature Sourdough starter is the living culture of wild yeast and bacteria. It's nurtured and maintained over time through regular feedings of flour and water.
- Levain is an offshoot of your sourdough starter that's a refreshed and amplified version of the sourdough starter, created specifically for a particular recipe. It's like giving your starter a boost before using it in your bread.
Why use a levain starter?
- Flavor, Aroma & Crumb enhancement: Levain can intensify the sourdough flavor profile, its aroma and texture.
- Scaling up: For larger recipes, levain allows you to increase the amount of starter.
Levain excels in certain types of sourdough bread because of the way it changes flavor and texture. Types of sourdough bread that are best made with levain:
- Sourdough Bread Recipes: This is the classic application for levain. By tailoring the levain's hydration and fermentation time, you can make sourdough bread loaves and sourdough rolls with a wide range of flavor profiles and crumb structures, from mild and slightly tangy to robust and very sour.
- Sourdough Rye Bread: Rye flour thrives with levain. The rye's natural bacteria support the sourdough culture, and the levain's acidity helps break down the rye's gluten, leading to denser, flavorful sourdough rye bread.
- Artisan Breads: Levain's ability to create complex flavor profiles and open crumb structures makes it ideal for artisan breads like baguettes, batards, and ciabatta. The stiffness or hydration level of the levain can be adjusted to achieve the desired crumb structure, from tight and airy in baguettes to open and holey in ciabatta.
- Sourdough Pizza: Levain adds a unique tang and depth of flavor to sourdough pizza crusts. Plus it helps improve the digestibility of the dough.
While these are some of the most common applications, levain can be used in various other bread recipes.
Creating a Levain
A levain is essentially a fortified sourdough starter. To make it, combine a portion of your ripe sourdough starter with fresh flour and water.
This mixture is then fermented at room temperature to create a more active and flavorful culture for your bread with the exact hydration for a specific sourdough recipe.
The Science Behind the Sour
- Wild yeast: These microscopic organisms feed on the sugars in flour, producing carbon dioxide gas as a byproduct. These gas bubbles cause the dough to rise.
- Lactic acid bacteria: These bacteria create lactic acid, which gives sourdough bread its distinctive tangy flavor. Acetic acid, another byproduct, contributes to the overall sourness and acts as a natural preservative.
The Role of Flour
Different flours impact the flavor, texture, and rise of sourdough bread. Rye flour, for example, is a popular type of flour because of its robust flavor and ability to support the growth of beneficial bacteria. Blending a mixture of flour can create unique flavor profiles and textures.
When to Use Which
- Beginners: Start with a sourdough starter for simplicity.
- Flavor enthusiasts: Experiment with levain to enhance taste and complexity.
- Scaling up: Use levain when your recipe requires a larger amount of starter.
Remember: Both sourdough starters and levains are essential tools in the sourdough baker's arsenal. Understanding their roles and how to manipulate them will help you create delicious and satisfying loaves of bread.
Different Types of levain
Having explored the core differences between sourdough starters and levains, let's delve into the fascinating world of levain variations. How to tailor a levain to change your sourdough bread.
Hydration Level:
Stiff Levain: Made with a lower proportion of water (around 50-60% hydration) compared to a starter. This results in a denser levain that contributes to a tighter crumb structure in the bread. Often used for baguettes and batards.
Liquid Levain: Made with a higher proportion of water (around 100-120% hydration). This creates a looser, more pourable levain that promotes a more open and airy crumb in the bread. Ideal for focaccia and ciabatta.
Flour Makeup:
Whole Wheat Levain: Made with whole wheat flour or a blend with other flours. Whole wheat flour provides a different nutrient profile and can lead to a more complex and earthy flavor in the final bread.
Rye Levain: Made with rye flour, known for its robust flavor and ability to support beneficial bacteria. Rye levains contribute a tangier flavor and a denser crumb to the bread, perfect for rye bread and sourdough with a strong rye character.
Sweet Levain: Sometimes used in enriched doughs like brioche or challah. This levain incorporates a small amount of sugar in its feeding schedule to encourage yeast activity and create a slightly sweeter and richer flavor profile.
- Fermentation Time: The fermentation time of your levain can significantly impact the final flavor. A shorter fermentation results in a milder flavor, while a longer fermentation can lead to a more complex and tangy profile.
- Temperature: Warmer temperatures promote faster fermentation and a more active levain, potentially leading to a slightly sourer flavor. Colder temperatures lead to slower fermentation and a milder flavor profile.
These are just some examples. You can experiment with different flour combinations and hydration levels to achieve your specific flavor and texture goals!
Prefermented Leavening
In the world of preferments, sourdough starters and levains is just the tip beginning! Preferments, come in so many names and styles.
Just like sourdough starters and levains, preferments jumpstart fermentation, adding depth of flavor to breads.
From the well-established Italian "Lievito Madre" to the French "Poolish" with its short fermentation and airy crumb, sourdough bakers have a large vocab for leavening.
Don't be surprised to hear terms like "Chef" (a refreshed sourdough starter portion), the Dutch "Desem" for their rye bread sourdough starter, or even the biga a lievito madre, which combines a sourdough starter with flour and water for a truly unique flavor profile.
Whether it's the French pâte fermentée with its touch of commercial yeast, or the Italian biga with its longer rise time, prefermented leavenings provide a world of possibilities for creating complex flavor and textures in your sourdough bread!
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Simple Levain
This is a basic levain recipe. As you gain experience, you can experiment with different flour types, hydration levels, and fermentation times to create levains tailored to your desired flavor and texture.
Ingredients
- 50g (½ cup) ripe sourdough starter (discard from a healthy starter works well)
- 50g (½ cup) bread flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 50g (½ cup) water (filtered or bottled is preferred)
Instructions
- Combine the starter, flour, and water in a clean mixing bowl. Use a spoon or spatula to mix until a shaggy dough forms.
- Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap or a damp cloth. Let it rest at room temperature (ideally around 70-78°F / 21-26°C) for several hours, or until the levain doubles in size and shows signs of activity (bubbles on the surface and some rise). This can take anywhere from 4 to 8 hours, depending on the temperature and activity of your starter.
- Once doubled, the levain is ready to use in your sourdough bread recipe. You can use it immediately or store it in the refrigerator for up to a few days.
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