All beginnings are difficult…
really? Sing with me: The Beginner takes it all!
These are the right lyrics for #brotokoll Basics: our breadbaking class for beginners. Flour, water, salt, sourdough and/or selfmade wild and natural yeastwater. That’s all what breadbaking newbies need for their first dive into #brotokoll and their first steps in breaduniverse.
Commercial yeast: Quite often recommended for beginners, who are afraid of starting right away with sourdough. Well, in our case commercial yeast should be afraid of drying out in loneliness. It is a big matter of baking philosophy. Because even absolute beginners don’t need a pinch of it, if they want to celebrate great oven-results right at the beginning of their homebaking career. But what’s the secret formula? Hokus Pokus? No – just a little bit of sourdough magic or the power of wild yeastwater.
So here comes what’s really important: steady and healthy wild yeast bacteria. And not to forget: the right and well observed maintenance in resting periods and the correct preparation before building the levain for every single breadbaking session.
Especially in the case of wheat sourdough, above mentioned points are absolutely crucial for a successful result. In the next weeks we will do a deep dive into this topic here on #brotokoll.
What else: A few dough handling skills and the “eye” for judging the right moment when the dough is literally sceaming: I want to enter the oven right now! That’s what you need for a great tasting and fantastic looking sourdough-bread. Here we go with a great example: Moulin Ruch!
Moulin Ruch
This recipe had its premiere in our #brotokoll Basics Workshop last September in Vienna. During our breadbaking class we set up the dough and did the final shaping.
A big adventure started the day after our workshop – because all participants baked their bread at home! And even the ones who had never baked bread before (so…New Kids On the Dough) ended up with fantastic breadstars. Impossible? Check this out!
T65 & Swiss Dark Flour – what a team
Moulin Ruch? The best French premium wheat, T65 Label Rouge*, from Moulin Bourgeois (read more about this mill and my visit in summer 2018 in the recipe Tourte de Meule ) teams up with charming Swiss dark (bran) flour* (in German: RUCH-Mehl)
For this traditional Swiss flour, some bran particles (normally sifted during the milling process of white flour) are re-added to the flour. The flour becomes more aromatic, while it absorbs more water as plain white flour.
T65* and Swiss dark flour* – A very tempting combination, stealing the show from the famous Varieté in Paris (Moulin Rouge vs. Moulin Ruch). A crunchy cracked crust with a fluffy and airy crumb.
It’s a super tasty allrounder. Topped with some marmelade, cheese, or even a steak – you name it.
Breadesque instead of Burlesque… Moulin Ruch.
Ready, set, bake!
Tag your results #brotokoll on Instagram & Facebook. I can’t wait to see your results!
Do you want to join me in one of the upcoming workshops? Check out my #brotokoll workshops overview.
I am looking forward to rocking the ovens with you!
By the way – I baked my Moulin Ruch loaves (those in the pictures above) in my Challenger Bread Pan* .
You haven’t heard about it? Don’t miss the interview with the pan’s inventor Jim Challenger!
Happy baking!
As for transparency reasons I inform you that the * marked links are affiliate ones. The final sales price for you on those linked websites doesn’t change in any way!
- 240 g T65 label rouge (french wheat flour) available at bongu.de
- 60 g Levain 3-4 times fed, as described in the recipe below
- 213 g Water cold
- 7 g Salt
- 60 g Swiss dark flour available at bongu.de
TA (Hydration) 173 (73%) Ingredients
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60g Swiss dark flour
213g Water (cold)
Mix all the flour and the indicated amount of water and let the dough rest well covered for 3-4 hours at room-temperature (Autolyse). I would recommend you to start the autolyse roughly one hour after starting to build your levain.
60g Levain
7g Salt
Add your levain to the autolyse dough and mix it by hand for 5-10 minutes (follow the instruction-video in the basics-section: Basics | Open Crumb - Sourdough Series | Kneading). Cover the dough and let it rest for 20-30 minutes. Now add the salt and knead another 2-3 minutes. Put the dough into a greased container and let it rest well covered for 60-75 minutes at room temperature.
The indicated recipe quantities are for 1 loaf of 580g.
Do you have specific questions or issues? Contact me via the contact form. I am happy to help you.
Levain buidling timetable - Example:
As most of you are maintaining your starters in the fridge for a couple of days during the week, it is extremely important that your sourdough is fed 3-4 times, before builidng the levain (the last feeding) for your planned bake. Those feedings will reduce the acid load and will increase your starter's activity level. Have a look at the Tutorial-Video.
For the feedings, just work with very small quantities of flour and the according ratios of starter (the sourdough you have stored, or the amount resulting from the stages of the timetable-example shown below) flour and water. All produced discards can be perfectly used for making flavorful Fleur de Levain. HERE is the instruction guide.
Friday morning: 1:3:3 (4g starter: 12g flour: 12g water)
Friday noon/afternoon: 1:5:5 (2g from previous stage: 10g flour: 10g water)
Friday evening: 1:10:10 (2g from previous stage : 20g flour : 20g water)
Saturday morning: LEVAIN: 1:2:2 (previous stage : flour: water) - you should end up with the total amount as indicated in the recipe
This example shall show you the way how you may plan your feedings. Observe your sourdough - and try to estimate the time it needs to rise until it's peak at a certain feeding ratio. On your baking day, you'll use your levain on the young side (4-5 hours young at its peak). This favors both, open crumb and ovenspring.