Hamelman's Pain au Levain

Toast

This just came out of the oven a few minutes ago and I thought it looked too good not to take a picture.  It's Hamelman's Pain au Levain with Mixed Sourdough Starters.  It has two levains: a wheat and a rye.  It's not cool yet so no crumbshot.  It didn't feel over-proofed but after slashing and sliding it into the oven it seemed to get awfully flat.  It certainly sprang back though.  I made a loaf of volkornbrot that came out about 15 minutes earlier and because of the strong, sweet rye smell I didn't expect the smell of this bread to be very noticeable but its smell filled the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the compliment.

I bought it directly from them.  As far as I know, they don't ship except to businesses.  I live in the south bay area so it isn't too far to go once in a while.  Recently Alison (can't remember her forum ID) was up there and picked some for a few of us in this area.  These loaves were made from the tail-end of 100 pounds I bought about 6 months ago.

 

 

Your bread looks great and I must give that a go.  Recipe or reference, please...

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It must be the Rye starter!  Secret ingredient number One!

Thank you all for the kind words.  I think most of the credit should go to Jeffrey Hamelman and Nickie Giusto.