Production Notes for the Formulas in this Chapter

Preparing the Levain Culture. At least 8 hours, or up to 16 hours before the final dough is mixed, the final build of the levain culture should be made. The culture is then left at room temperature, covered with plastic until ripe and ready to mix into bread dough. As mentioned in “Building the Culture”, it is important to always ripen more culture than is necessary for the production at hand, in order to save a portion and perpetuate it. With liquid-levain cultures, ripeness is indicated by a mildly acidic aroma and a subtle sweetness, as well as by numerous small bubbles, somewhat like soap bubbles, that partially cover the surface. It should have a pleasing tang when tasted, acidic but not aggressively so. With stiff-textured cultures (50 to 60 percent hydration), ripeness is indicated by a domed surface. When the culture has domed and has just barely begun to recede in the center, it is a sign that full ripeness has been achieved. Since many levain breads are leavened solely by the yeasts in the sourdough, it is of the highest importance that the final dough is mixed when the culture is at its prime level of maturity: Poor volume, poor luster to the crust, and deficient eating quality will result if the levain build is either too young or too ripe when it is added to the final mix.