Natural leaven

Natural leaven [final photo]

Leaven is a natural raising agent, a fermented mixture of water, flour and the microscopic yeasts which are present in the air. It's a living, delicate substance, sensitive to the external environment. The recipe is around 4000 years old and dates back to the Egypt of the Pharaohs, via a beautiful history...(note: the ancient Egyptians seem not to have had exclusive knowledge of the process: in Germany evidence of cooking a fermented dough has been found from 1800 BC (the Neolithic era).

The principle is extremely simple: a mixture of water and a little flour is made, after a few days and using the yeasts in the air, the mixture "starts". Every 3 days it must be "refreshed", i.e. by adding an equal weight of water and flour. The mix froths and bubbles, smells rather like beer, sauerkraut, or vinegar. You can then use some to make leavened bread.

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For1 natural leaven 2 natural leavens 3 natural leavens

MeasuresMetric

Metric weight Metric volumes Read more...

For 1 natural leaven, you will need:

Flour organic, rye, brown or wholemeal
Water spring or filtered, and warm

Nutritional information:

Whole recipe

Calories

Proteins

Carbohydrates

Fats

Per 100 g

Calories

Proteins

Carbohydrates

Fats

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories by day for a woman (change to a man).

Times:

Preparation : 5 min.
Resting : 6 days
Start to finish : 6 days 5 min.

Step by step recipe:

Day 1: In a small pot, such as a jam jar, mix throughly 30 g flour with 30 g warm water. You can increase your chances of success by adding the point of a teaspoonful of honey or brown sugar. It should look pasty. You have just made the "Leaven chef", put the lid on the pot lightly so the air passes, and keep in a warm place.
Day 3 or 4: The contents of the pot might be starting to bubble, which is a very good sign! Add to the pot 30 g warm water, mix well, then add 30 g flour. Mix thoroughly. It should look pasty again. You have just done the "1st refreshing". Store it, lid loosely on the pot to allow air to pass.
Day 6 or 7: The contents of the pot should start to inflate, make bubbles, be alive! Transfer the contents of the pot into a larger container (if not it will overflow). Weigh the existing leaven and add the same weight of warm water, mix well, then the same weight in flour, and mix thoroughly. You have just done the "2nd refreshing", store it with the lid on loosely to let air to pass, or covered with a damp cloth.
Day 9 or 10: The leaven is started, it should start to smell and to be fizzing or frothing. From now on you can start to use it for all your recipes like the new leavened bread. When you have used some, refresh it to compensate and so on... From now on, for a feed, weigh the existing leaven and always add its weight in water, mix well, then its weight in flour and mix again (as for day 6).
To resume the leaven cycle, you can see this small video (made with about 300 photos) which show you how a leaven act after a refresh. You will note that it is super active after about 12 hours, that's an important data for you when you will start your first leavened bread.

Remarks:

The leaven is alive and "feeds" on the exterior part of the grain so it's necessary to use "whole" or brown flours, like rye flour or wholemeal wheat flour rather than a very refined white one (like the French Type 45 or 55). It's much easier to succeed using leaven with a rye flour.

In theory a leaven is everlasting: you feed it, you use a little, and so on; but sometimes there's a drama: it "dies", and you need to start the whole process again.

Precautions:

Leaven is very sensitive to the environment, so it's necessary to avoid:

Any contact with detergents or similar chemical products, you must rinse all utensils thoroughly.
Contact wth metal utensils, instead use glass, plastic or a wooden spoon reserved for this exclusive use.
Low temperature, its preferred temperature is 26°C or 79°F.
Contact with chlorinated water, you should use spring or filtered (Brita kind) water, and always warm, never cold.

To store it, use a container which lets some air pass, and keep it in a warm place. The best place is normally high up, like on top of a wall cupboard in the kitchen for example.

The leaven is nourished by the outer envelope of the grain, so it's very important to use a flour with a high germ and bran content. This recipe is based on standard rye flour T170 which gives very good results. You can also consult some general information on flours.

There is not one, but several leaven recipes, each one having its own little tricks, tips, additions, and peculiarities.

If you'd like more information on making your own bread, you can consult this special page.

Some tips:

When leaven is started, it's necessary to manage it, i.e. refresh it "when necessary" to obtain the right weight of leaven at the time you need it (typically, the day before you make leavened bread). It's not easy to succeed, especially in the at first when there's an annoying tendency to make too much, and it is very sad to have to throw some away.

Bear in mind that with each "refreshing" the leaven triples its weight, which quickly builds up. If you only make bread (like me) on Saturdays, you should ask yourself the question: how much leaven do I need to make my final leaven Friday evening? and starting from this weight (to which you should add another 30/40 g to be on the safe side), calculate for one refreshing on Wednesday and another on Monday.

All these calculations can be summarised in the following table by supposing that you need 540 g leaven on Friday evening (the amount needed for 4 1kg loaves, and of course these proportions should be adapted to your needs). You should have a little left over (40g), not kneaded into the bread, which will be the base for feeding the following week and so on.

Refreshing day	Monday	Wednesday	Friday
Leaven weight obtained after refreshing	60g	180g	540g
Soit	3 x 20 g	3 x 60g	3 x 180g

Some common problems, and some solutions:

Q: A veil of liquid formed on the surface of the leaven, what can I do?
R: Your leaven has waited too long before being refreshing. Mix until homogeneous, then refresh as usual.

Q: My leaven smells strong, is it normal?
R: It means that it is "hungry", it should be refreshed.

Q: Mould has appeared on the surface of the leaven, what can I do?
R: Your leaven is dead. Start a new batch.

Q: Is it really necessary to feed the leaven before making bread?
R: Yes, if not your loaves will not rise properly.

Checklist for leaven that will not start:

Your leaven won't start, it has been tragically flat for more than 3 days, or it's gone mouldy? Give up on that one, throw it out and start a fresh batch, paying attention to these essential points:

Are you using organic rye flour? Organic quality guarantees you the absence of fungicides or other chemical products which could kill your young leaven.
Are you using spring water? (chlorinated water could kill your developing leaven)
Have you put it in a neutral container (glass, plastic, not metal) which was carefully rinsed with hot water? (any traces of detergent could kill your young leaven)
Are you keeping it in a warm place? (too low a temperature would prevent your leaven from "starting")
Are you allowing the container to air, just covering it with a damp cloth? (It is necessary for the helpful yeasts bacteria in the air to "seed" your water and flour mixture)

How can I keep my leaven?

You will have noticed that keeping leaven alive requires a certain continuity, so what if you need to go away for several days? The simplest and most natural method consists of "drying" the leaven:

After the last refreshing, when the leaven is well risen and active, spread it out on a pastry tray with a maryse.
Let dry, possibly in the sun.
Break the dry leaven in small pieces and keep in a dry place. These leaven pieces can be kept almost indefinitely...

To restart leaven, crush a few pieces in their weight of water, then add their weight of flour, and mix as usual...

Recipes which use it: 6

Of which: Sandwich bread - New leavened bread - Special breads - Old style brioche - Leavened bread - ...

Source:

Henri Granier, then home made.

Last modified on: July 24^th 2010

Your 6 comments or questions on this recipe:

- - -

Can I use wholewheat flour to make my leaven ?

Comment #1 posted on september 20^th 2008 at 12:38 by Deidre.

For Deidre : Yes, but use organic kind, to maximize your success chances (not sure that it's a correct english expression).

Comment #2 posted on september 21^th 2008 at 20:46 by jh.

My bread seems to cook very slowly and be a bit soggy in the middle when the crust is cooked. Is the oven too hot or cool?

Comment #3 posted on october 14^th 2009 at 17:32 by Tim.

For Tim : possibly oven too cool, usually it's around 240°C or 460°F.

Comment #4 posted on october 14^th 2009 at 18:19 by jh.

I'm very interested in this, since I live in San Francisco, and apparently our air is world-renowned for the natural yeasts in the air. I am a few days into this process and hope to have the leaven complete in about a week. My question is then, if I gave some of it to my mother who does not live here (for example, by your drying method), once she crushed and diluted them, would the natural yeasts where she lives take over and erase the "San Francisco-ness" of that yeast?

Thank you so much for a great tutorial!

Comment #5 posted on june 1^st 2010 at 19:45 by Jared.

Hi Jared,

You must keep in mind that each time you refresh your leaven, you divide by 3 his "roots", so in a few times there will be only new natural yeasts in it.

But don't worry, the difficulties with leaven is to start it. So if you do it for your mother in San-Francisco, using the famous air, then later wherever she lives, she will get a nice "San-Francisco started" natural leaven.

Comment #6 posted on june 2^nd 2010 at 16:58 by jh.