Growing My Levain - Part Two: the Growth of the Levain

I have actually grown the levain for some time and it is now quite stable.
There are few ways to feed the levain and the books differ on this.
 Decided to document the journey here.  I used Ken Forkish's way of feeding the yeast, except I only feed 100g water and 125g flour each time cos I find it a great way and I feed on a 12 hour cycle because it is quite warm in Singapore. ( I perpetually get  30 degrees Celsius) in my kitchen and it is humid.  At night, it may drop to 27degrees Celsius but that is on a exceptional cold day.

Starting the levain and Growing the Sourdough Initially

Initial Feed  (1st Feed)

100 g yeast water
100 g bread flour
25 g wholemeal flour
1 glass container mine (1.9 L, believe me you will need the extra space)

Weigh the container and write down its mass in permanent marker on the glass.  It helps for subsequent  feedings.  My weighing machine sleeps quite quickly and I have short term memory, so the tare function doesn't help much.  I also put a calculator so I just keep adding and the numbers on the calculator reminds me of the mass I have to add the stuff to.

Pour in yeast water, add in bread flour and wholemeal flour.  Stir with a knife to combine.  I do get a think paste like texture after the flours are mixed in.

Leave it for 12 hours at room temperature.  You should see the levain doubling.  It did for mine.  Took a whiff after the 12 h...the acetone smell comes back again.  The mixture is now more liquid.

2nd Feed

100 g yeast water
100 g bread flour
25 g wholemeal flour

Discard all but 100 g of the initial starter from previous feeding.
Add in the yeast water and stir well, scraping the sides of the container so that the mixture is incorporated into the liquid.  I did stir quite vigourously to incorporate air.
Stir in the flours and scrap down and even out the surface of the paste and then rest at room temperature for 12 hours.

3rd and subsequent feeds

100 g water  (I used Evian as my starter was still growing)
100 g bread flour
25 g wholemeal flour

Discard all but 100 g of the initial starter from previous feeding.
Add in the water and stir well, scraping the sides of the container so that the mixture is incorporated into the liquid.  I did stir quite vigourously to incorporate air.
Stir in the flours and scrap down and even out the surface of the paste and then rest at room temperature till mixture doubles.

By the 3rd day mine started to double in about 2 hours.  After it doubles, I put it in the fridge.

Before the next feeding by an hour, I take it up to warm in up.
 The  growth of the levain was not so predictable the first few days, but for mine, by the 5th day it was very vigorous.  It would often double in 2 hours or less.

Once the growth is stable, you can start baking with it.

I could baked my first bread using Carol Hu's recipe eagerly after 5 days.  Baking is usually 2-4 hours after the feed.


Sorry, I didn't take any pictures this time because I was worried it failed again.  Haha...but it didn't.  Ok, I will document its growth in another post.  Told my hubby, he has a new baby....he says he would eat his own baby....my kids joked that they have a new sibling just that they can't decide if it is a he or she.