back to baking for fun after retiring from a 25 year professional baking career.

pain au levain (4 loaves)

1360 g sir galahad unenriched flour

40 g organic whole wheat flour

1072 g water (110 degrees. air temp in house is around 66 flour was in the upper 50’s)

40 g sea salt

260 g 50% hydrated levain

240 g 100% hydrated levain

mix flour and 95% of water on low in spiral mixer until incorporated, about 3 minutes

autolese for 30 minutes

add starters and mix on high for about 2 minutes, add second hydration and salt at the beginning of this mix.

bulk ferment 2 hrs with three dough folds at 30, 60 and 90

divide and preform, rest 30 minutes

form and place into flowered baskets

ambient ferment for this batch was 5 hrs then moved to the fridge for about 14 hrs.

baked using a le creuset ceramic baking dish and a ceramic coated cast iron oval dutch oven heated in over for 15 minutes. i have a commercial garland range as my home oven. will eventually start using the bread oven again once i replace the old worn out hearth. it is a 6×4 vaulted arch wood fired bread oven.

35 minutes at 450 covered, 5ish minutes uncovered.

cooled on rack.

good morning bakers. i am a retired professional baker of 25 years, ran my own wholesale bread company Rupert Rising Breads from my home for 20 of those years. anyway, after retiring and changing careers in 2023 i threw out my starter of 25 years and took a long break. did a little baking with poolish doughs but in november i decided it was time to get a new culture going. i do not use a 100% hydrated culture, mine is only 50%, but do use that to mix 100% hydrated ones as well as keeping the stiff starter as my storage levain. anyway, super snowy weekend here in vermont,

took the day off from carpentry today so i made dough yesterday and baked this morning and thought i would share with you all. this is a 76% hydrated pain au levain. i’m happy to talk technical with anyone who has questions. have a great day everyone!!