What's the point of the levain?

Rachel Butterworth

Hi

I am new to sourdough, I am wondering what the point of making a levain prior to making the loaf is. Why not just use undiluted starter? I expect chemistry may be involved.....

Thanks in advance for the wisdom...

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Brewcat 2018 May 1
New to baking but in brewing it helps to pitch a healthy starter to jump start fermentation. I'm assuming it's the same principal. I notice bread recipes that use discard starter usually call for commercial yeast to get the fermentation started. To me that seems like defeating the purpose. Just a guess though

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