Tag: sourdough bread

Bread Making: Bread Math, Poolish and Scaling a Recipe

I have really gotten attached to using a poolish as the starter for sourdough bread. Using a poolish is really easy. You just mix flour, water and starter, and set it aside to ferment for 12 hrs. It is technically called a preferment.

There are disagreements between the definitions of poolish, biga and a sponge. It seems like the poolish is 100% hydration, or 1:1 flour:water. The biga is 1:0.7 flour:water, and a sponge is 1:0.4 flour:water.

Sourdough Bread From A Learner: Resources

A neighbour gave me a freshly baked sourdough bread, and then some starter. I like sourdough’s flavour, and had been thinking about trying it, but hesitated on the 5 day wait for the starter to get going.

There are numerous recipes online. We started with this recipe: Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread Recipe.

There are many variables when dealing with natural yeast. Ambient temperature plays an important role. The sourdough’s naturally occurring yeast takes time to rise. My first bread took 6 hrs, and I felt it needed more time.