Naturally leavened bread + scoring tool

31 Jul 2021 in Food Recipes

It is not a complicate process, but it can take a while.

The whole process can take a while, but once you have the levain you will become addicted to this recipe.

Making the levain

Combine the flour, water, and if you wish to accelerate the process, some fermented liquid. The proportions may vary a lot, but a safe rule of thumb is 1 to 1 (flour and water). I used yogurt to accelerate the process, just a spoon is enough.
Mix it very well and leave it a non sealed container (outside the fridge)
On the next day, discart half of the mixture and add a bit of flour and water (1 - 1 - 1) (refresh process)
Repeat the process until you get a mixture that doubles in size in between the refresh periods
Now you can store your levain in the fridge
Every week you can refresh the mixture (then leave outside the fridge until doubled in size, then store in fridge again)

Combine the flour (400g) and the water (240g), mix it well and cover it to maintain the humidity.
Combine the levain (80g), flour (20g) and the water (20g).
Wait until the levain is fully activated (doubled in size).
Mix the flour-water mixture, the activated levain, sugar and the olive oil. After mixing, join the salt.
Let it rest for 30 minutes.
Fold the dough from the bottom up about 5 times and then let it rest for 30 minutes.
Repeat this process 4 times.
Give it a desired shape in a banneton (I used an improvised one). Let it rest for 24h in the fridge.
Decorate the bread with a very sharp knife or with a custom made bread scoring tool (see below)
Place the dough in a closed pan (you can place a baking paper in the bottom).
Let it rest for more 8h hours, this time outside the fridge.
Bake for about 25 minutes with the pan closed (280ºC)
Remove the lid from the pan and let it bake for more 25 minutes (220ºC)

Thanks to https://www.youtube.com/c/ChefMancuzo