I recently started experimenting by using Amy Scherber’s (Amy’s Bread) method of making a

sourdough levain (Preferment).

Friday night (Feb. 24th) I fed both of my starters.

I maintain both a Rye Starter and a White Starter. The white was spun off from the original rye.

I made two levains, one rye and one white, both with:

55g of discard

55g of water

1 g salt (1/4 teaspoon)

142g of Roger’s Silver Star commercial bread flour (13.3%).

I left both the newly fed starters and the two levains out on the counter overnight.

Both are more than doubled.

White Starter and Levain.

Rye Starter and Levain.

In the morning (Saturday Feb. 25th) both starters and levains had more than doubled and the levains were ready to use.

Each levain went into a bowl along with 630g of water. Using my fingers I broke up the levain so that it would be easier to mix and distribute into the batch of dough.

Added 1000g of flour, 30g of salt and 1g of yeast.

White Dough

Rye Dough

After the initial hand mix, the dough is covered and left to rest for 30 minutes (Autolyze).

White after first stretch and fold.

Rye after first stretch and fold.

Each dough is given four stretch and folds with an autolyze rest of 20 to 30 minutes in between.

White – last stretch and fold.

Rye – last stretch and fold.

Each of the doughs went into a covered container and into the fridge immediate after the last stretch and fold.

To be baked over the next couple of days.

EDITED – FOLLOW UP

This morning (Monday February 27th) at 4:00 AM the dough made with the white levain was taken out and left on the counter to warm up and finish rising.

Matt made a pizza using 500g and I made three loaves using the remaining dough.

One large

and two smaller.