Lievito Madre is a stiff Italian sourdough starter (~45-50% hydration) that provides a milder, sweeter flavor profile, improved digestibility, and superior, fluffier texture in baked goods compared to liquid starters. Due to its low-acid, yeast-heavy fermentation, it is ideal for any dough but especially for rich, high-fat, and sweet doughs like panettone, brioche, and premium pizza. Levito Madre can be used in it’s stiff state or you can make a levain from it. Key Benefits of Lievito Madre - Superior Texture & Volume: Produces incredibly light, fluffy, and soft dough structures, making it perfect for enriched breads. Also works wonderfully in lean doughs - Mild Flavor Profile: Unlike tangy, acidic liquid starters, Lievito Madre creates a delicate, mild, and often sweet aroma due to high lactic acid production. - Enhanced Digestibility: Long fermentation breaks down gluten and antinutrients, making the final bread easier to digest. - Its stiff, strong structure helps doughs rise in recipes with high fat and sugar, such as panettone or pizza, without losing, strength. - Longer Shelf Life: Natural acids from the slow fermentation act as a preservative, keeping baked goods fresh for longer without mold. - Nutritional Benefits: Increases the availability of vitamins and minerals like magnesium and iron. - Ideal for Pizza: Produces a very airy, crunchy crust with high digestibility. Lievito Madre vs. Liquid Sourdough - Hydration: Stiff/Firm (45–50% water) vs. Liquid (usually 100% water). - Flavor: Mild and sweet vs. Often sour/acidic. - Bacteria/Yeast: Promotes more lactic acid bacteria and yeast growth, less acetic acid. Usage Tips - Because it is firm, it is sometimes "bathed" (soaked in water) to reduce acidity before refreshing. - It is often used in recipes requiring long, natural rising. Pictured below are the stages of fermentation, from just mixed to peak Happy Baking!! @Tracy Havlik @Donna Angelo @Sandy Chong @Ann Snow @Patt Stanaway @Deborah Karaban @Judy Lyle @Mauvette Bailey @JoAnn Amato @Colleen Vergara

Bread only appears simple. Most people think bread is just flour, water, salt, and yeast. But authentic artisan bread is really built from seven ingredients working together at the same time: 1. Flour — provides the structure, strength, and food supply for fermentation. 2. Water — hydrates the flour and allows gluten and fermentation to develop. 3. Salt — strengthens the dough, improves flavor, and helps regulate fermentation speed. 4. Yeast — creates carbon dioxide gas that makes the dough rise and expand. 5. Lactic Acid Bacteria — the hidden workforce inside sourdough starter that creates flavor, aroma, strength, and preservation. 6. Time — allows fermentation, gluten organization, flavor, and structure to fully develop. 7. Temperature — controls the speed of everything. Temperature is the steering wheel of bread making. The real art of sourdough is learning how these seven ingredients interact with each other — and learning how to guide them instead of fighting them. 🍞 May 9th… 100/77/2/20 using 1200g total flour + 100% hydration starter + dough temperature 80~82°f. After refining the actual formula and recipe to what I think is an accurate replica of Tartine’s famous Country loaf… I’m fine tuning the processes to be my simplified First Principles version. I did increase the inoculation from 9% to 20% to speed things up a bit. However I did not eliminate any steps required to make an authentic artisan loaf of sourdough bread. I just eliminated unnecessary steps, waiting or touching of the dough frequently. Mixing, gluten development, bench rests where required, bulk fermentation, dividing, preshape and final shaping continue as normal. Recipe: 2 loaves 600g High Gluten flour 300g All Purpose flour 100g Whole Wheat flour 724g warm water… 77% hydration 400g Hank = 100% hydration flour is 100g High Gluten flour + 50g WW flour + 50g dark rye flour 24g salt ~~~~~~~~~~~ Total weight: 2148g I’ve designed this recipe and it’s processes to produce a high quality, authentic, artisan, high hydration, loaf of sourdough bread (like the famous Tartine Country loaf) in just 4 hours from the time Hank is mixed with the flour. My assumption based on experience with this recipe is the dough will reach the 33% rise in about 2.5 hours from mixing… because of Hank being fed to have Rocket Fuel strength, because 400g of Hank has lots of yeast, because the average temperature of the dough is over 80°f the entire time.