Bread & levain
How naturally leavened bread works: starters, flour, fermentation and baking in a Minnesota kitchen.
- Baking Levain Bread in a Cold Minnesota Kitchen: Temperature, Timing and Warm Spots
How a cold winter kitchen slows sourdough fermentation, how to calculate the water temperature for a target dough temperature, safe warm spots for a starter and dough, and how to adjust timings from November to March.
- How to Make and Keep a Sourdough Starter: A Day-by-Day Method
A practical method for making a sourdough starter from flour and water: equipment, flour choice, a day-by-day feeding schedule, how to tell when it is ready, how to store it in the fridge or freezer, and how to fix common problems.
- Minnesota Wheat and Flour: What Hard Red Spring Wheat Means for Your Bread
Why Minnesota grows hard red spring wheat, how US wheat classes and flour types differ, what protein, ash and enrichment mean on a bag of flour, how whole grain and rye change a levain, and what Kernza is.
- What Is Levain? Sourdough, Starters and Natural Leavening Explained
Levain explained: how a starter and a levain differ, what the wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria do, why sourdough tastes sour, how it affects texture and keeping, and what the research says about digestibility.
