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The wonderful world of preferments

Posted Aug 13th 2008 10:00AM by Shayna Glick
Filed under: Bread

A preferment called poolish that has just been mixed.

You may remember a few weeks ago that I brought you some information on starting your own sour dough culture. That is a very worthy pursuit, but even I admit that it can be hard to maintain and can be wasteful unless you make a lot of bread. But you want that great, complex taste that comes from the long development of yeast, right?

Well, there's a solution to that problem: preferments. Preferments are mixtures of flour, water, and very small amounts of yeast that are generally allowed to develop overnight. This way, you get highly developed yeast and organic acids without having to constantly feed a starter culture. There are four basic types of preferments. Keep reading to kind out all about them.

The wonderful world of preferments: Poolish

Posted Aug 13th 2008 10:00AM by Shayna Glick
Filed under: Bread

Poolish (mixture of water and flour with very small amount of yeast) that has matured overnight.

Ah, poolish. It's thought that poolish actually originated in Poland and migrated through Austria to France. Poolish is the preferment of choice among French bakers for the symbol of French bread, the baguette.

Poolish is a mixture of 100 percent flour and 100 percent water, with maybe about .1 percent yeast. That means that there will be the same amount of water and flour mixed together, and just a very small amount of yeast is part of the mix. Poolish should be a wetter mixture, not unlike a thick pancake batter. You'll know that this preferment is ready to use when the surface is covered in tiny bubbles and it looks like it has expanded and then flattened out. If the poolish has fallen at all, then it is overdeveloped and probably not good.

A poolish should be left in a cool spot overnight, but not refrigerated unless you'll need more than 12 to 16 hours. If you're making it in the afternoon for the next afternoons use, then I'd go ahead and refrigerate it. Just be sure to allow it to come back to room temperature before you use it.

Poolish, being a more hydrated mixture, lends itself particularly well to the development of lactic acid. If you taste a mature poolish, you should be able to taste yogurt or milk. The moister environment is more attractive to bacteria that produce the lactic acid.

The wonderful world of preferments: Biga

Posted Aug 13th 2008 10:00AM by Shayna Glick
Filed under: Bread

A biga (preferment made from a miture if flour, half that amount of water, and small amount of yeast).

The biga is a traditional Italian preferment. It's a less hydrated mixture and so it's much stiffer than most of the other preferments. I get asked a lot how it is that the biga is a stiff preferment when Italy is known for its really well hydrated breads like ciabtta. My answer is that Ciabatta is one among many different kinds of breads, and you don't use the same preferments for each one.

A biga is a less hydrated preferment that uses about half as much water as flour (maybe 60 percent water sometimes), in addition to the small amount of yeast. I generally use a stand mixer to mix a biga, because it's supposed to have a more dough-like consistency. A biga should be left at covered at room temperature for about an hour and then refrigerated overnight. It needs to be allowed to warm up at room temperature for about an hour before being used, and the biga should have a nicely domed top to tell you it's ready. If it looks a little deflated that's OK, but too much deflation is not good.

This type of preferment is more hospitable to the kind of bacteria which produce acetic acid, so it will have a more astringent flavor and smell.

The wonderful world of preferments: Sponge

Posted Aug 13th 2008 10:00AM by Shayna Glick
Filed under: Bread

A slightly underdeveloped sponge, which is a type of preferment.

The preferment called a sponge is the quickest of all. It's generally ready in about three hours. If you're really in a hurry, or you forget to mix a preferment the night before and really want to have one, then the sponge is the way to go.

The sponge is generally a mixture of about half of the flour in a recipe, all of the water, and all of the yeast. That's why the sponge acts so quickly. Apart from its quick action, a sponge is similar to a poolish. Both are very wet, and the top surface of each will be covered in small bubbles when mature. Needless to say, a sponge should be left at room temperature for the whole fermentation period.

A sponge will also taste a little bit more like lactic acid, but the taste won't be as pronounced because it did not have as much time to develop. The yeast and organic acids will definitely be developed, just not as much as an overnight fermentation.

The wonderful world of preferments: Pate fermente

Posted Aug 13th 2008 10:00AM by Shayna Glick
Filed under: Bread

Pate fermente, a type of preferment, in a bucket.

Pâte fermenté is translated as "old dough." It is literally a finished dough that is added to the freshly mixed dough. This may seem odd, but the practice probably started when home cooks had to save a piece of the old dough to make sure they had leavening for the next days bread. It can either be made especially for whatever bread you're making, or you could save a portion of the dough you make today and use it in tomorrows loaf.

Since it is an old dough, pâte fermenté does contain salt, in addition to the flour, water, and yeast. That's fine because the dough has still been able to develop the yeast and organic acids over the fermentation period. The pâte fermenté must be refrigerated overnight, and you can add it either cold or at room temperature to the new dough. Because the gluten has already been developed as well as the yeast and acids, the pâte fermenté should be added toward the end of the mix. That way, the gluten in the pâte fermenté won't get over developed.

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The wonderful world of preferments

The wonderful world of preferments: Poolish

The wonderful world of preferments: Biga

The wonderful world of preferments: Sponge

The wonderful world of preferments: Pate fermente

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