This is the comment thread for the Breadtopia blog post originally published here:
Just amazing to watch this young baker as he works, alone with huge doughs! I am fascinated! I used to bake twice a week in a monastic community here on the Canadian Prairies and I would bake 65 2lb loaves white and brown, but nothing like this guy! And look at his ovens! both gas and wood-fired… just to watch him he just doesn’t stop even when he talking to you! I’m proud of my 2 bannetons! Golly! he has closets full of them! Makes me glad that now I baked for fun and home baking!
About 2 weeks ago there was an article and video on Food52 featuring Apollonia Poilane who took over the running of Poilane Bakery when she was very young. She is still young! That is as much of a spoiler as I’m going to give Video and article here. I will warn you that the feature recipe is Avocado tartine with banana and lime … and before you go “EWWW!”, it works :)! I was skeptical, but I was intrigued by the photo of the bread used, so read the article and watched the video. I was struck by Apollonia Poilane’s poise, calm, passionate demeaner and her obvious love for the bakery, the bread baking process and food. So, I got over my own “Ewww” and tried the combination.
If you are still reading this, the primary reason I am commenting on this 5 year old post is that I ended up buying the cookbook by Apollonia Poilane, recently (October 2019) published. An adaptation of the bakery’s famous sourdough is in the book and part of the recipe note for the recipe includes the following about the starter:
If you’ve made sourdough before, you may be used to a bubbly, liquidy starter; this one is firm and more like the piece-of-dough starter we use at the bakery.
Maybe you’ve already found this out, but as I was searching the forum for “Poilane”, I found this post with your query about the leavening and then reading the recipe in the cookbook: “Ah ha!”.
The Poilane recipes use a “stiff” starter and the cookbook details how to make that. I’ve read other recipes calling for a stiff starter and tried to research differences. I’ve read conflicting information, but the most recent compilation of thought I found in another sourdough forum:
Bernard Poitrenard “Commercial starters in France” in Kulp and Lorenz p204 puts it succinctly
“A firm sourdough (55% water adsorption of the weight of flour used) encourages the production of acetic acid over lactic acid (stronger acidic flavour)
A liquid sourdough (100% water adsorption of the weight of flour used) encourages the production of lactic acid over acetic acid (milder acidity)”
Martinez-Anaya (op cit) says “Sourdoughs with low consistency produce more lactic acid and ethanol, ferment faster and consume more fermentable sugars” and cites W.Sieibel and J M Brummer Cereal Foods World 36;299 (1991) and P, Weustink, Getreide, Mehl Brot 43;49 (1989)
Of course there are many other influences on flavour and perceived acidity besides hydration of the starter/preferment, and other reasons such as ease of handling and mixing that dictate the hydration.
I’m going to give the Poilane stiff starter and recipe a try. I really enjoy the adaptation on this site:
Traditional whole grain sourdough, but I think it will be fun to experiment with the Poilane recipe as well as with a different type of starter.
1 Like
I love avocado on toast with some lemon. Also love peanut butter on toast (or toasted bagel) with banana. Two of my favourite. But i’ve never heard of toast with avocado and banana.
Avocado and an over-medium egg is a favorite of mine…gotta try banana and avocado now 
1 Like
Agreed! Toast, Avocado, Eggs and Smoked Salmon. What a breakfast.
I’m trying to get my head around Avocado and Banana.
If you haven’t tried toasted sourdough or toasted bagel with peanut butter (the 100% peanut variety) and banana then you’re missing out on a treat.
Good grief! I apparently made the fatal error of “burying the lead” in my comment.
I only mentioned the avocado recipe as to how I happened on the cookbook and thus maybe an answer to @Eric’s question about leavening in the original post … and further how I think it might be interesting to experiment with a firm starter.
I’m interested in the experiment and the toast
I have started the starter process per the recipe in Apollonia Poilane’s book. It is supposed to be ready in 48 hours, but that is in her Paris kitchen at 72F so I’ll see what happens in my NW Montana kitchen at 62F
1 Like