In ancient Greece, there were about 50 recipes for various types of bread, in the Middle Ages bakers baked 9 main types of bread. But today, we would like to present you a traditional Polish bread recipe with levain and yeast.
Levain ingredients:
- 100g all-purpose flour and more for feeding
- 100ml water, room temperature
Making levain takes about 5 days. Mix 100g of all-purpose flour and 100ml of water and cover with a dish towel or cheesecloth. Then, there is the time to start feeding with additional water and flour. Every day at the same time, add a handful of flour and enough water to make a consistency of pancake batter. Mix thoroughly every 12 hours. On Day 5, check if your levain is ready to use. It should be light, bubbly, and fluffy, and have a pronounced fermentation aroma without any acidity.
Bread ingredients:
- 50g of wheat flour
- 50g of rye flour
- 50ml of levain
- approx. 1/2 l of water
- 15g fresh yeast
- ½ tablespoon of salt
Recipe:
- Mix flours, add some salt, yeast mixture and water.
- Stir the bread dough and then knead by hand or with a mixer with a dough hook for about five minutes. It should be flexible that retains its shape.
- Cover with a cloth and leave overnight at room temperature. Knead again for about 10 minutes, form a loaf, place on baking paper sprinkled with flour. Leave for approx. 30 minutes. Brush the top with milk.
- Bake for 70 minutes at approx. 200 °C. While baking, place an ovenproof dish with water in the oven.