levain

Borrowed from French levain.

levain (plural levains)

1. (baking) A starter dough for sourdough bread.

• mother dough
• mother sponge
• starter dough

• Lavine, alevin, alvine, leavin', valine, veinal, venial, vineal

Inherited from Old French levain, from Vulgar Latin *levāmen, from levō.

• IPA^(key): /lə.vɛ̃/

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levain m (plural levains)

1. sourdough
2. leaven (any agent used to make dough rise)

• levure

• “levain”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• nivela