Sunday Notes: The Half-Starter Bake

A recipe calls for 100g of levain. In a 78°F kitchen, that dough will over-proof before you can shape it. So I use 50g and add two hours to bulk.

This is the classic Reddit summer advice, and it's dead right. Less levain = slower fermentation = a bigger window to catch the dough at the right point. Same crumb, same tang, less scrambling.

In winter, do the opposite: 150g, shorter bulk. Recipes are written for one kitchen. Yours isn't it.