Temperature × recipe
Pain au Levain at 78–82°F
Adjusted timing: 3.5h bulk + 9.4h proof (multiplier 0.78×).
- Baseline bulk (76°F)
- 4.5h
- Adjusted bulk
- 3.5h
- Baseline proof
- 12h
- Adjusted proof
- 9.4h
- Multiplier
- 0.78×
- Activity
- very-active
- Target hydration
- 72%
- Bake temp
- 480°F
Why the timing shifts
Warm kitchen or proofing box — ideal for accelerating fermentation. Ferment 25% faster than baseline. Good for schedule compression. Watch carefully — dough over-proofs quickly. Ideal for hot-weather baking when you want to get dough into cold retard before too much fermentation happens. Consider reducing levain to 12-15% to slow things back down.
Technique for Pain au Levain
Autolyse 60 min. Add levain (100% hydration, 15-20% of flour weight) and salt. 3 sets of stretch-and-folds. Total bulk 4.5h at 76°F. Shape tight boule, cold retard 12h. Bake in 480°F dutch oven: 22 min lid on, 22 min lid off.
Calculator pre-set to these values
- Multiplier at 80°F
- 0.78×
- Adjusted bulk ferment
- 3.5 h
- Adjusted final proof
- 9.4 h
How the math works
Multipliers are piecewise-linear interpolations between reference points measured by Myhrvold et al. in Modernist Bread vol 3. 76°F is the baseline (1.0×); every 10°F drop roughly doubles fermentation time, and every 10°F rise roughly halves it.