"Roy" wrote in message
oups.com...
> Look, its hard to find a sourdough bakery using 100% levain in the
> preparation of natually fermented bread,which only refreshes their
> culture once a dayand do not even add bakers yeast to accelerate
> fermentation and proofing time.

I've worked for 2 bakeries, both of which used only sourdough starters for
raising their sourdough breads. Neither bakery spikes their sourdough breads
with yeast. One bakery had a simple system of refreshing the starter (kept
at the consistency of wet dough) once a day. It was kept in the cool room
and never had a problem raising dough.

The place I work for now keeps their starter in 2 forms -- a fresh chef,
which is stiff starter fermented from old dough (effectively being refreshed
twice a day). It's kept at room temp (though it's sometimes mixed very cold
if it's going to sit for a longer time) and is very active with a mild
flavor. The other starter is the old dough itself. It is kept in the fridge
and is used anywhere from 1-3 days after the dough was made. This starter
gives a much more acidic flavor. Dough made with this starter starts off
slow, but once it gets going it never fails to get a good rise -- even if
the starter is three days old. And that's without adding yeast.

Trevor