I enjoy working on rustic, traditional French breads. I do use cultured yeast for baguettes from time to time, but overall, vastly prefer working with levain, my sourdough.
Tried something new, after coming across some French sites using the technique - "fermentation lente," "slow fermentation." This is not retardation of dough in the refrigerator. This is a very low inoculation of starter levain (here, 1% - v. 25% or more for most of my breads), fermentating at 68F (room temp) for upwards of 20 hours.
The dough is moderately high hydration (71%) and is mixed and kneaded less. Here, speed 1 on my KA (60 rpm), 5 minutes just wheat flour and water, autolyse for 30 minutes, add in salt (low here, too - 1.3% v. my usual 1.8-2.0%), levain, and rye flour. An additional 6 minutes on low, so 660 revolutions overall. Lower than my normal of 880-1100.
Tried something new, after coming across some French sites using the technique - "fermentation lente," "slow fermentation." This is not retardation of dough in the refrigerator. This is a very low inoculation of starter levain (here, 1% - v. 25% or more for most of my breads), fermentating at 68F (room temp) for upwards of 20 hours.
The dough is moderately high hydration (71%) and is mixed and kneaded less. Here, speed 1 on my KA (60 rpm), 5 minutes just wheat flour and water, autolyse for 30 minutes, add in salt (low here, too - 1.3% v. my usual 1.8-2.0%), levain, and rye flour. An additional 6 minutes on low, so 660 revolutions overall. Lower than my normal of 880-1100.
