Organic Levain Notes

~Organic Gardening on a Microscopic Scale~

Yeast as Pets and Tiny Chefs

  

~Sourdough Mother Levain~ 
Printable Recipe

This is going to be a little different from how I usually go about recipe writing because this really isn't a recipe as much as a scientific microbe culturing experiment.  Starting to sound a little sciency...

Organic High Gluten or Bread Flour

Purified Spring Water 

Special Tools: 2 Quart glass container w/a lid
                           Reliable Kitchen Scale

Phase 1 - 4oz Spring Water + 2oz Organic Whole Wheat Flour (4/2)

Combine your first portioning of flour and water in the container and place it in a relatively warm part of your kitchen, not too warm though (never above 75f) or you might allow other things aside from yeasts to grow.  Let it sit uncovered for 36 to 48 hrs.  After 24 hrs, you should see some bubbles and it should begin to grow.  Your proto starter should be quite active by 48 hours.  If it looks a bit weak, add another (2/2) flour to water and let it sit 24 hrs until it gets going.  When you feed, make sure to mix the flour and water together into a paste before adding to your starter.

Phase 2 - 2oz Spring Water + 2oz Flour (2/2)

Take your starter and stir it down to knock att the gasses out of it.  At this stage, you should have a sour smell and a mildly tangy almost battery taste (yes you should taste it)  Mix your water/flour paste and add.  Let it sit 12 hrs with the lid on at room temp.

Phase 3 - Transformative Feeding Stage 6 + 3/3

By now you should have strong sour smells and strong tangy flavors.  You should NOT have any kind of "beery" or musty smells or flavors.  If you do WASH YOUR VESSEL THOROUGHLY AND START OVER!  What has happened is the starter got too hot and other bacteria have taken hold.  If you have no negative signs, go ahead and transform into your a final Mother starter culture.

Weigh out 6oz of starter and throw out the rest.  Mix up a (3/3) mixture in the starter vessel and add the 6oz starter culture, mixing vigorously to combine well.  Repeat this process every 12 hours as it reaches double volume to maintain it.  You can also place your starter in the refrigerator and repeat this once every 5 days or so if you dont plan to use it all that often. A good strong mother should smell and taste of sour tangy fruits, like a passion fruit sometimes, and double within 12 hours at room temp.
This starter may take some time before it matures into a really great starter but dont give up hope and keep at it!  You wont be disappointed!