What in the yeast is "levain"?!

I know there is a lot of terminology thrown around out there in the baking world. Hopefully after this short read, you'll have one less question mark in your life!

You know how some things in this world have multiple names (and annoyingly enough, most for no reason) for the same thing? Well, this is one of those thingys! When you see the terms "levain", "starter", "sourdough", etc. they are all essentially referring to the same thing: a sourdough starter or "culture", if you will. A lot of resources will choose one and stick to it, while other might decide to use these terms interchangeably. So when you see a recipe or a product for sale that uses "levain"- that is sourdough folks!

Fun bonus fact: "levain" is French for "leaven". In traditional sourdough recipes, the sourdough culture is used as a leavening agent (what makes your dough rise) instead of commercially produced yeast. To learn more about the differences between using a wild culture like sourdough to leaven your goods versus using regular old yeast, click here for another slice of knowledge.

Thanks for coming to my bread talk! 😉

~ Krystal