Pain au levain is a traditional French bread, naturally leavened with wild yeast. I chose this bread for the debut of my sourdough starter.Usually I shape my dough into boules, mostly because I'm short on time and I know that haste and shaping anything else often equals disaster. This morning, however, I was so elated with being able to bake with my first sourdough leavened dough, I decided to challenge myself and shape the dough into bâtards, a shape I've never attempted. Oddly, mine look more like fat baguettes and don't have the torpedo shape of bâtards; my only consolation is that I didn't overhandle the dough and degas it excessively. While I was waiting for the final proof, I went online to read about the background of pain au levain and discovered that they are usually shaped into round boules or miches. So much for tradition!
Makes excellent toast, too!
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