You can smell garlic bread miles away. The biggest appeal of the roasted garlic levain bread is unequivocally the smell. It’s mellow and it permeates every corner of the house when toasted. It excels for its scent, among all the breads I make. Don’t get me wrong, the taste and texture of the garlic levain bread are equally compelling. But clearly, you smell it first. What is past is prologue.
You smear garlic on bread, then toast it briefly in the oven. That’s how most garlic breads are prepared. Here the garlic is kneaded into the dough. It’s an integral part of the bread. That includes: the roasted garlic and the garlic powder. I added the garlic powder, a last-minute ingredient, when I realized I didn’t have enough roasted garlic from one bulb. In perfect hindsight, the added garlic powder is what’s making the roasted garlic levain a real standout.
This is a Jeffrey Hamelman’s recipe from Bread, a book that keeps on giving after so many years. I changed the recipe by adding 10% more in whole wheat flour (20% of total flour weight) to make the bread more wholesome. With the addition of small amount of yeast, fermentation takes less than two hours. The resulting bread is less tangy which allows the garlic to shine. The dough is quite lively, so don’t let it run away from you. I tried to rest the dough in the fridge. Even a cold retard could not slow it down. So I immediately turned on the oven to prevent the dough from overproofing.
This bake is fast, fun and the garlic flavor is over the top. The bread runs away from the counter even faster! It’s the bread that appeals to all your senses.
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