i use a preferment for almost all of my hearth loaves, sandwich loaves or general weekly baking - I keep fresh (only fresh!) discard and often sub in 100g of sour prefermented discard and remove 50g of flour and water each from the recipe. it just adds so much complexity to what could be a same-day loaf with a bit of yeast, or a slow sourdough ferment overnight, etc. I find especially for whole grain breads, or loaves that don’t use bread flour, the preferment super duper helps keep the crumb soft and even. doesn’t help with rising though, so I’ve taken to using a preferment AND a healthy percentage of starter in my whole grain loaves to wonderful results! i always preferment if i have the time.
usually what happens is I forget to feed the starter a day prior to a bake - take all but 100g of that, that’s my discard. fridge sometime that day. Feed my starter 1:1:1 or 1:2:2 depending on if i want to bake early or late, then when it’s at peak, i use it for the “starter” component of a bread recipe. take discard out of the fridge to use as preferment.
Good you are feeling repaired. I got my copy of Lune last week; just putting a dent into the read, it’s massive and like a dream ❤️🔥. Keep being well!
I have heard good things about preferments, but I never really notice any difference when I use them vs just fermenting normally (come to think of it, if I leave my sourdough for a longer ferment in the fridge I don't notice any difference in taste either...!) Is there something I should be mindful of? Is it really worth the extra step given that I am usually fairly happy with how my bread tastes?
Hi – glad you’re feeling better! Can you please talk about adapting recipes to use preferments?For example -what amount/percentage of flour and water can be taken from an original recipe if you want to use it as a preferment and then add to the dough? Thanks!
I would love for you cover some of the ins and outs of biga. While I regularly use poolish to make my pizza dough, I have experimented a bit with biga with mixed success. For reference, I have mostly tried to tackle 100% biga (i.e. 100% of flour used from the final recipe with additional water, yeast or levain, and salt added as part of the final bulk proof). I have tried both cold and room temperature versions of this pre-ferment. What I continuously run into is difficulty in getting the final dough properly hydrated and inevitably end up with bits of hard/dry biga in the final product. I know that part of the trick is to slowly add the water and not all at once. While helpful, I still always end up with dry bits at the end. Online, I always see people make this type of dough using spiral stand mixers (I use a non-tilt head kitchen aid stand mixer) and wonder if the use of this style of machine is what aids them in achieving that final silky dough with strong gluten bonds.
What are the main flavor profile differences between the 3 types of preferment? Also, I've seen some recipes that do overnight preferments at room temp and some that do a few hours at room temp and a day or more in the fridge can you discuss why you would use one method versus the other other than just convenience of time. Thanks!
i use a preferment for almost all of my hearth loaves, sandwich loaves or general weekly baking - I keep fresh (only fresh!) discard and often sub in 100g of sour prefermented discard and remove 50g of flour and water each from the recipe. it just adds so much complexity to what could be a same-day loaf with a bit of yeast, or a slow sourdough ferment overnight, etc. I find especially for whole grain breads, or loaves that don’t use bread flour, the preferment super duper helps keep the crumb soft and even. doesn’t help with rising though, so I’ve taken to using a preferment AND a healthy percentage of starter in my whole grain loaves to wonderful results! i always preferment if i have the time.
Hi Cayce.
Do you keep your discard in the fridge? How do you keep it fresh?
Thanks much.
Owen
usually what happens is I forget to feed the starter a day prior to a bake - take all but 100g of that, that’s my discard. fridge sometime that day. Feed my starter 1:1:1 or 1:2:2 depending on if i want to bake early or late, then when it’s at peak, i use it for the “starter” component of a bread recipe. take discard out of the fridge to use as preferment.
i don’t really keep discard more than a week
Good you are feeling repaired. I got my copy of Lune last week; just putting a dent into the read, it’s massive and like a dream ❤️🔥. Keep being well!
I have heard good things about preferments, but I never really notice any difference when I use them vs just fermenting normally (come to think of it, if I leave my sourdough for a longer ferment in the fridge I don't notice any difference in taste either...!) Is there something I should be mindful of? Is it really worth the extra step given that I am usually fairly happy with how my bread tastes?
Glad you are feeling better!
Hi – glad you’re feeling better! Can you please talk about adapting recipes to use preferments?For example -what amount/percentage of flour and water can be taken from an original recipe if you want to use it as a preferment and then add to the dough? Thanks!
I would love for you cover some of the ins and outs of biga. While I regularly use poolish to make my pizza dough, I have experimented a bit with biga with mixed success. For reference, I have mostly tried to tackle 100% biga (i.e. 100% of flour used from the final recipe with additional water, yeast or levain, and salt added as part of the final bulk proof). I have tried both cold and room temperature versions of this pre-ferment. What I continuously run into is difficulty in getting the final dough properly hydrated and inevitably end up with bits of hard/dry biga in the final product. I know that part of the trick is to slowly add the water and not all at once. While helpful, I still always end up with dry bits at the end. Online, I always see people make this type of dough using spiral stand mixers (I use a non-tilt head kitchen aid stand mixer) and wonder if the use of this style of machine is what aids them in achieving that final silky dough with strong gluten bonds.
What are the main flavor profile differences between the 3 types of preferment? Also, I've seen some recipes that do overnight preferments at room temp and some that do a few hours at room temp and a day or more in the fridge can you discuss why you would use one method versus the other other than just convenience of time. Thanks!
Hi
How much more flavor does poolish impart than a ripe levian?
Thanks Cayce.
Owen
I just received my copy of Lune and can't wait to give her technique a try. I'd love to see your take on it in a workshop!
Stay tuned, Brady!