The LEVAIN   Step 2 - This can be done in the morning on your way to work. The LEVAIN can rise for 6 hours in the bread machine

Day 5

1 1/4 cups of spelt flour
Full batch of CHEF

Bring the CHEF to room temperature. If it has been placed in the refrigerator, the CHEF needs 2 hours to come to room temperature. Add the flour directly to the batter-like CHEF . Stir vigorously to add fresh oxygen to the mixture. This should make the mixture very stiff. This stiff firm texture is important for ripening the LEVAIN starter. If the batter is too water-y it becomes very sour and tangy. Scrape down the sides and let stand in a cool 70ºF draft-free place for 6-10 hours, or until it has doubled. Inside the bread machine with the machine unplugged will do nicely. Do not let it rise beyond 10 hours or there will not be enough strength in it to encourage the bread to rise.

BAKING BREAD  Step 3

1 cup water
1 cup LEVAIN
1 tablespoon Himalayan pink crystal salt
2 1/4 - 4 cups of spelt flour

Allow the LEVAIN starter, the flour, the water, and the mixing bowl, all to come to room temperature. If your flour is cold from being kept in the fridge, warm it a little. This meticulousness helps the bread to ferment and rise nicely. The dough behaves quite differently if brought to room temperature. Mix the LEVAIN starter and water together with a wooden spoon or a wire whip. Continue stirring until the mixture is slightly frothy and the LEVAIN starter is partly dissolved. Add 1 cup of the flour and stir until it is well combined. Add the salt and just enough of the remaining flour to make a thick mass that is difficult to stir. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding the water to your hands. I kneaded it within a large ceramic bowl. The muffin dough must slightly over kneaded, and much wetter than regular bread dough, so keep wetting your hands as you work and knead in as much water as you can.

RISE THE DOUGH (2 hours)
Stop when the dough is soft that it is almost runny, and before the gluten falls apart. Finally, cover and set the dough to rise for 2 hours. I put it in a deep wide bowl and cover with a huge platter to keep drafts away. The muffin dough will rise more quickly than its stiffer bread counterpart, because it is so wet.

LET THE DOUGH REST (30 minutes)
Deflate the dough by pushing down in the center and pulling up on
the sides. Knead the dough very lightly to form a tight ball.  Place it on a lightly floured board. Cover with a clean damp towel (not terry cloth, a smooth cloth like canvas or linen is better) and place in a moderately warm 74º -80º F. draft free spot for 30 minutes.

SHAPE THE LOAVES (5 minutes)
Knead dough very lightly to form a ball.  Flatten with the heel of your hand on a lightly floured surface into a disk 8 inches in diameter.  Shape dough into a torpedo or fit it within an oiled bread pan. Knead it tightly.

SECOND RISE OF THE DOUGH (2 hours)
Place the dough seam side down in a traditional bread-baking pan that has been lightly oiled or place the loaf seam-side up in a well-floured couche within a basket. A basket or bowl with a diameter of 8 inches and a depth of 3 - 4 inches will do. Lay inside a clean, lightweight even linen towel dusted with flour. By letting the dough rest in a cushioned, floured container, this will give a loaf that will take on the shape and markings of the basket. The crust will be thicker and bolder from the extra flour becoming embedded in the dough upon rising. This creates a rustic, earthy looking crust. Place in a moderately warm 74º - 80º F draft free spot until almost doubled in volume, approximately 2 hours. Sometimes I wrap everything with a thick towel to protect the rising bread from any drafts.

IMPORTANT STEP
About 45 minutes to an hour before you are going to bake, pre-heat the oven to 450º F. Position the baking stone in the center of the oven. When the dough is first put into the oven spray the oven walls with water from a sprayer. Repeat this in about five minutes and again in another five minutes.

Using a very sharp, serrated knife or a single-edge razor blade, score the loaf by making quick shallow cuts 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep along the surface. I always seem to forget this. If baking in a basket or free form, use a well-floured smooth linen or smooth cotton towel (called a couche) as an aid, gently roll one loaf from the couche (towel) onto a lightly floured wooden plank (known as a peel) so that it sits seam side down. Use the peel to slide the loaf onto the hot baking stone. At this point if you want a free form flatter rounder bread, just place it on the heated stone. I sometimes prepare my breads free form by braiding the dough and allowing it to rise. Once I preheat the oven and pop it in, spray the walls, I pull up a chair and watch the show unfold as the bread beautifully starts rising taking on a golden brown color. This glorious piece of dough made with water, salt, and flour suddenly are transformed as they begin to expand, inflate and take on a life of their own. The aromas fill my kitchen. Quickly spray the inner walls and the floor of the oven with cold water from spray bottle or splash water into the oven from a bowl. The idea is to create an abundance of hot steam. Avoid hitting the light bulb in some ovens, or it may burst. Close the oven door to trap the steam, wait three minutes and repeat the process. For more details on steaming the oven, click here. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Rap the baked loaf with the back of your knuckles. If it sounds hollow, it is done, if not bake for an additional 5 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

LEFT OVER LEVAIN STARTER  After baking  Step 4

Once you have placed the bread in the oven and measured out the LEVAIN starter, you will have a bit left over. To the left over LEVAIN add 1/3-cup water (or 5 tablespoons of water) and 1/2 cup of flour (or 8 tablespoons of flour). Mix it adding the water first, then the flour. Allow it sit out while the bread bakes. Then place it in a cool place. The refrigerator is fine. The LEVAIN has to be fed 1/3 cup of water (or 5 tablespoons of water) and fresh spelt flour 1/2 cup (or 8 tablespoons of flour) about once a week. For the best bread, fed the LEVAIN twice in a 24 hour period just before baking your next loaf. When you are ready to bake your next loaf, once again allow the LEVAIN, the flour, the water, the mixing bowl, all to come to room temperature. The process for making these non-yeasted breads is indeed a long one, but once you experience biting into a savory warm slice of spelt bread fresh from your own stone lined oven, you may be handsomely rewarded through your own self realized efforts. Early on I did a taste test. I thought my first loaves were flat and I assumed the taste would also be flat. I compared a slice from a commercially made loaf of non-yeasted spelt bread to my own, and my own won hands down. There is a movie from Pacific Bakery that shows in VHS video format how to bake unyeasted spelt bread.

In Bread Alone is a recipe for Pain Au Levain with Walnuts, a non-yeasted bread. Traditionally this bread is served in France following a meal with the cheese course. I have substituted almonds in place of walnuts and the bread is just wonderful made both ways. Nut breads are just the thing to try when one needs extra protein and to gain a little weight. Nut breads will put weight on quickly and easily. For those in Germany who may wish to make a yeasted loaf - Bio Vegan makes Back-Ferment. It is yeast or a ferment made from honey, which creates lactic acid yeast through an alkaline fermentation. Lactic acid ferment is more beneficial to the body because the body easily blows it off, eliminating it quickly through the lungs with each breath. Whereas vinegar or alcohol yeast (bread baking yeast or quick rise yeast) produces a residue within the body that the kidneys and liver need to work with in order to transform and eliminate.
This will take a great deal of flour to make. When I first read those lines, I remember thinking; yes the entire process takes close to 10 pounds of flour for non-yeasted breads. Maybe this is why yeasted breads are so popular with profit-making bread companies? They use a lot less flour; a lot less ingredients and require much less energy to manufacture. However, the nourishment contained within your own baked bread far exceeds that from commercial bakeries.