Semi Leaven Sourdough Bread

Recipe Section

Semi Leaven Breads have many aliases - 'yeasted sourdough' breads, 'pre-fermented' breads, 'time dough' breads, 'artisan' breads, 'semi sourdough' breads - and there are many others. I've always referred to them as 'semi leavens', because they are part sourdough (leaven or levain) and part yeasted breads. A fully leavened bread, therefore, would include regular sourdough, by this terminology. Just in case you were wondering.

Semi Leaven breads also can take on any texture - you can make very light breads with this method, or loose textured continental style breads, and even rich and full flavoured wholemeals.

Because of the faster fermentation, crusts can be baked to be either quite thin (which can be hard to do with regular sourdough) or thicker. You can also use the method as a 'shortcut to sourdough' technique, for times when you don't have a lot of time. In every baker's life, too, there are times when the poor old leaven just isn't up to the task. Again, a little yeast, and away you go..

Surefire success follows.

Vienna Bread recipe using white spelt flour

made with the Semi Leaven Method.

Vienna Bread using white spelt flour is a lovely way to use spelt. Because of the faster leavening time, the spelt has less chance of getting damaged (spelt being 'brittle', it needs to be treated carefully when using straight sourdough recipes - more on that later though)..It also lends itself well to this style of lighter, faster recipe.

These recipes, while developed for hand kneading, do very well in a mixer, where development is more easy to do. In this recipe, though, I've gone for a number of short 'turns', rather than 'kneads' to get the development needed (pun absent but begging), over quite short intervals. Like all the recipes in the site so far, this one is a hand kneaded bread, but with a fair amount of attention required. The idea is to get a large number of 'turns' into the dough - I tend to do a quick turn every fifteen minutes or so initially.

Continental Bread made with the Semi Leaven Method.

Continental Bread is one of my family's staple breads. There are numerous variations on the theme of a traditional yeasted sourdough recipe. I call them all 'Semi Leaven' breads, because they contain some sourdough starter and a tiny amount of yeast, which creates a light yet flavoursome bread, with the kind of crust that's typically Italian. This 'Continental Bread' recipe comes from my old bakery, Quinton's Artisan Bakery, in Leura NSW, which satisfied Leura folk for a decade, as it was always a best seller there in the chilly mountain regions. Also a popular bread at many Grower's Markets around NSW too. This dough recipe makes great crusty bread, and will go really well in a 'batard' (vienna shape) or a tin.

Italians culture a biga, which is a form of old dough. The French use a levain in many yeasted recipes, and the Germans use various starters as standard practice in many white and rye bread recipes. Even in Australia, I know a lot of old time bakers who used their old yeasted dough in up to 25% of a new dough, to make the dough mature more quickly. This technique has been used by bakers for a very long time, and has numerous nom de plumes by which it operates.

Sourdough Breadmaking Classes and Workshops

If you like the site, and would like to have me come to your venue or kitchen to conduct sourdough breadmaking workshops with your group, have a look at the options and ideas for breadmaking workshops and demonstration classes while you're here.

Light Wholemeal Bread is derived from the Leura Wholemeal Bread recipe which was a popular bread at our shop in Leura NSW. Again, it's a  'Semi Leaven' bread, because it contains some sourdough starter and a tiny amount of yeast, which creates a substantial bread, with a thick but soft crust.

The beautiful thing about this bread is that while it's quite a substantial bread, it's also quite soft and a little bit sweet, courtesy of the honey, which also helps leaven the bread. You can also substitute malt flour if you can get it - this gives the bread a lovely earthy colour, but not the same pronounced taste of honey.