Food, Levain Bread, Photography

I am no Longer the Breadwinner, but I sure Make a Lot of Dough -Levain Hit and Miss Adventures

Each subsequent bake with my Levain Mother (Sourdough Starter), I am getting improved results. I started off with 100 gms (3.5 ounces) from local French Canadian restaurant (Chartier) made available last December.

In my first bake in January, I only had enough for a 2 day feed and my results were less than stellar. The loaves were heavy and small. I did set aside 550 gms (19) oz. for the next baking time and with each bake (about once a month), the Mother gets stronger and the finished product gets better.

Rather than keep feeding it beyond Day 5 and throwing out large quantities of the Mother, I store about 1100 gms (38 oz.) of fresh Mothter in the fridge, after each bake. 550 gms are for my next bake and the other 550 gms can be used for other things or to give away, if somebody new wants to give it a try. It keeps pretty well in the fridge for about 3-4 weeks. You can not freeze the Mother without taking the vigor out of it, unless you dry it first, a fairly onerous procedure.

When I need more bread, I start a new 5 day feed, bringing the starter out of the fridge a day before needed, so it can re-energize.

This post is about bake #6 and while I had some hits, I had a major miss. The 5 day feed resulted in enough Mother to make (2) baguettes, (4) 1.2 kilo (2.5 pound) loaves and (1) 2.4 kilo (5 pound) mega loaf. Now, this last item was my miss. I do not have a cast iron pan big enough for it, so opted to use a small enamel roaster. Despite oiling the bottom and sides of the roaster, the loaf stuck to the sides and bottom like cement. Ooops. The loaf was still good and was salvaged, but clean up was a problem. Until next time, happy loafing.

Published by

kagould17

Not much to tell. After working for 3 companies over 43+ years (38 years 7 months with my last company), I finally got that promotion I had waited my entire career for……retirement. I have been exploring this new career for the past 7+ years and while it is not always exciting, the chance to do what I want for myself and my family instead of what my company wants has been very fulfilling. Early on, there was a long list of projects in my “to-do” hopper and I attacked these projects with a vengeance for the first 9 months of retirement. Eventually, my brain told me that this was not what retirement was about, so it took me another 5 months before my industriousness again took over and I attacked another line of projects, this time somewhat shorter and less complicated, as well as many new projects related to the family weddings in 2016. After going hard for 6 weeks and 3 weddings, my body was telling me to relax, then the flu bug hit and as soon as that was done with me, my sciatic acted up. No rest for the wicked. In 2020 and 2021, the Covid 19 pandemic changed the whole retirement gig. I was lucky to not be still working, for sure. I enjoy photography, gardening, working with my hands, walking, cycling, skiing, travelling, reading and creating special photo and video productions obtained in my first pastime. I may never become wealthy in any of these pursuits, but I already feel I am rich in life experiences far beyond any expectation.

8 thoughts on “I am no Longer the Breadwinner, but I sure Make a Lot of Dough -Levain Hit and Miss Adventures”

  1. Despite the misses it’s such a rewarding experience to learn something new. It sounds similar to my struggles with making kambucha where the process revolves around the quality of the Mother. After a year of hits and misses, I’m nearly there! Have a good day 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks. You are right. I have only been at it 9 months and there is a huge difference. My trouble is when I go away for a long time, I have to renew the mother before I go and use it once I am back. I did lean that I can reduce the amount of my feed to 1/5th and still succeed. Thanks for reading and commenting. Allan

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment