Levain Bakery Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is so special about levain cookies? ›

The Cookie That Melts In Your Mouth And Warms Your Heart

Baked in NYC and beloved worldwide, our crispy and chewy and soft and melty cookies have become iconic for a reason. We make each 6-ounce cookie by hand every day, with simple ingredients and a whole lotta love — the same way we've done since 1995.

We've chosen to press pause on our frozen, smaller sized 2 oz. cookies at this time. In this post-pandemic, inflationary environment, it's no longer feasible for us to bring the same Levain recipe to grocery stores at a price point that conveys the right value.

If it feels set and springs back slightly, it is likely done. Avoid pressing too hard, as this can deflate the cookie. Light Cracking – Look for light cracks on the surface of the cookies. If you see them, the cookies have been baked long enough and are ready to be taken out of the oven.

– Levain Bakery's Cookies are 6 oz (170g) each, which is far more than one can eat, but you can always share with your friends.

Levain Bakery-style cookies are intentionally crafted to have a soft and gooey interior. The texture might resemble a slightly undercooked cookie, but it's a result of the baking technique used to achieve that irresistibly melty center while maintaining a crispy exterior.

Our cookies stay fresh for about a week at room temperature when wrapped in an air-tight container. If you're not going to eat your cookies within a few days of purchase, they can be frozen and reheated before you want to enjoy (350 degrees F for a couple of minutes or until heated through).

A lower temperature will require more cooking time and will ultimately result in a thinner, crisper chocolate chip cookie. For those ooey, gooey chocolate chip cookies, 375 degrees Fahrenheit is your sweet spot.

Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly. The lack of moisture makes the cookies hard and dry, which makes them difficult to enjoy.

Likewise, if your cake isn't brown enough it is likely because it is under-cooked or the recipe used insufficient egg or sugar.

Levain (frozen cookie): a one-dimensionally sweet, mostly crisp cookie that pales in comparison to the original.

How much starter do I add to levain? ›

It's essentially what I do (see below). However, I've found I have the best luck with a levain that's fed 1:2:2 (one part starter to two parts flour and two parts water), whereas my starter is fed 1:4:4. This wouldn't hurt the loaf of bread, but it would likely throw off the rise times and could lead to a dense loaf.

If you want to use yeast instead of levain: for 500 g flour you need about 12 g yeast. If you want to use levain instead of yeast: for 500 g flour you need about 200 g levain. mix 50 g flour (wheat or rye) with 50 ml warm Water.

very good! Make sure you have lots of milk or water on hand - these cookies are iconic and smell heavenly, but they're also very rich and I can't imagine eating more than 1/2 of one in one sitting. Levain cookies are as decadent as it gets.

Simply put, a levain is a bit of starter that you section off, feed so that the total volume is enough for your recipe (usually with a 1:2:2 ratio), and let rise so that it can be used to make a loaf of bread. It doesn't really differ from starter unless you choose to do something different to it.

But first, let's start with the biggest question: Do you have to make a levain? Can you just use sourdough starter? The answer is... You don't HAVE to make a levain and Yes, you can use a ripe, active sourdough starter in recipes instead of levain.

Levain is an important ingredient when it comes to baking bread and other dough-based goods. In order to make dough rise, you need active yeast cultures to aid in fermentation. That is where levain comes in.