Yeasted Preferments Explained | Poolish, Biga, Sponge, Pâte Fermentée
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- Опубликовано: 6 май 2024
- What is a preferment and why use it?
Preferments are made by taking a portion of the total dough ingredients, mixing them together and leaving to ferment for several hours. In most cases only flour, water and yeast are used. There are exceptions like the sponge which can be made with milk instead of water. Or pate fermentee which is the only one that contains salt.
The ripening time of a preferment will depend on the temperature of the environment and the amount of yeast used. A poolish or biga may ferment for 8 - 16 hours or even more.
A pate fermentee being made by taking a piece of a fully mixed dough can take as little as 6 hours.
The sponge is by far the quickest preferment as it contains all the yeast in a recipe. It can be ready in as little as 45 minutes.
Most breads can be made with preferments and most of the preferments can be used interchangeably with some modification.
Generally, you would preferment 10% - 20% of the total flour in a recipe. But there are instances where I have made recipes with up to 50% prefermented flour. Rarely, but still possible is a recipe with 100% prefermented flour.
There are several benefits to a bread made with prefermented flour. The acidity in the preferment can help with strengthening gluten structure making a dough rise upwards instead of spreading out sideways.
Flavour is another major benefit. A slow fermentation creates acids and esters which give the bread a wheaty fermented aroma and a slight tang. Much more complex than any straight through dough.
Keeping quality is another benefit as the more acidic a bread is the longer it will stay fresh. This is especially important for when you are making larger loaves and baking less often. The acids in the bread will prevent mould formation far longer than in a regular dough.
Lastly, the production time of your bread can be reduced when using a preferment. Because it brings so much flavour you will not need a long bulk proof to develop it. By simply mixing a preferment the day before and spending just a few minutes you could potentially save hours the following day.
I like using them as is evident in the Breads with Preferment playlist on my channel. With around 30 recipes using all the preferments listed here.
📖 Read more ➡️ www.chainbaker.com/preferments/
➡️Baker's % - • Baker's Percentage & D...
➡️Breads with Preferment - • Breads With Pre-ferment
➡️Convert any recipe to preferment - • How to Convert Any Bre...
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:31 Poolish
3:30 Biga
5:48 Sponge
8:06 Pate Fermentee
12:22 Side by side comparison
13:52 Notes on temperature control
14:50 Letting them over ferment to see what happens
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Principles of Baking bit.ly/principles-of-baking
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Great video ! Thank you !
Thanks
Thank you ! I got my lesson.
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Seria muy honesto y solidario de tu parte si pondrías subtítulos en español,tenés muchos seguidores sudamericanos,bendiciones abrazo¡
As always a superb video.
When I was first learning about these I found it very confusing. Why might I use one or the other in any given bake?
Some background might help.
Each method was developed to solve a particular baking issue.
Pate Fermente / Old dough, is an ancient way of keeping a leaven from bake to bake. Yeast as an item is a fairly recent invention somewhere around the end of the 1800’s. Before that beer barm or old dough was the common source of yeast. I think the other methods here have advantages over it.
Poolish was invented by the Parisian Polish Bakers (who were the vanguard developing what is now French baking). There was a shortage of yeast in Paris and their method enabled them to manage without having to source it. Compared to the other methods less flour is used and so a smaller amount of it can ferment a larger bulk of dough. This made day to day storage easier.
Of course, Poolish came to be the wild yeast leaven we often know as a starter and these have a number of advantages over a yeasted Poolish. More about that later.
Biga was an Italian solution to getting more of the flour slow fermented and yet keep hands on baking time fast. The Bigga would be left overnight, fermenting more of the flour than a Poolish and the next day the bulk fermentation would be faster. The method had the advantage of fermenting more of the flour giving the better flavour crumb and crust that comes with longer fermentation.
The Sponge was the favourite method of commercial baking in the UK up until the Chorleywood high speed industrial process was introduced in the 1950’s. It’s main purpose was to accelerate bulk fermentation and proofing and because of it’s speed it does not develop so much of the improved flavours, or the crumb and crust we get from Old dough, Poolish and most of all from the Biga. It has few advantages in home baking as it confers little extra flavour and was merely used to shorten fermentation times with very large amounts of dough. It's other name is 'Flying Sponge' that says it all. If the home baker wants speed direct baking is fast and upping the yeast a little faster still. Be warned though. The more yeast that is added the quicker the bread will stale.
So as home bakers we should not slavishly copy methods from commercial baking without considering the advantages and disadvantages they have for us with our greater flexibility and lower dough production needs.
The first consideration for me is making the bake fit into my time schedule. The second is flavour development. Lastly there is the question of urgency. If I want bread fast there is nothing to beat the direct method of using instant yeast directly into the dough with no cold retardation . If I want the best flavour and can start a pre-ferment the night before the Bigga will always be a first choice. However a small poolish is so much easier to manage I mostly use that. I have no need for an old dough as keeping some polish or bigga back in the fridge is just as easy and it’s more manageable.
In hot summers or the tropics salt can be added to the Poolish or Bigga to slow down its development. Never more than 2% and remember to subtract it from the final dough amount. As Charlie says, the fridge is our friend for this too. The poolish, or bigga can also be given 15 minute visits into the fridge to slow it down if it is going too fast. I don't do that as my life is busy enough. The same can be done with the dough by the way. Fifteen minutes in the fridge prior to a coil fold and the coil fold will equalise the dough temperature.
All pre-ferments can be speeded up or slowed down by changing the amount of hydration. The great Dan Lepard, who was in the vanguard of the 1980's home baking revolution in the UK preferred a poolish with 80% hydration. It gives a more stable and slightly slower development. The time it's at it’s peak is lengthened and so the baker has more flexibility. A 120% hydrated poolish is f a s t ! Great when you are in a hurry, but the window when it's at it's peak is much shorter. It is also more liable to develop acetic acids giving the dough a tang. (This can be applied to wild yeast starters too). The same is true with wetter and dryer Bigas. But, Bigas are slower and more stable anyway with their lower hydration.
We don't need to pay much attention to Enzyme activity with yeasted starters unless we use freshly milled flour, or rye flour. Freshly milled flour is referred to as green flour in the baking trade. Green wholemeal flour is packed with enzymes, vitamins and all sorts of nutritional goodies which become oxidised over the first 48 hours after milling. So, using flour from anywhere other than your local wind or watermill (and then ask when it was milled) the flour has ‘aged’. Oxidation has depleted most of the enzymes and the gluten has oxidised and become stronger, more elastic. So, the critical amylase group in old flour is at low levels and all of these yeasted pre-ferments enzyme activity can be ignored excepting for when lengthy autolysis is used. An aside: Autolysis is really only appropriate for with white flour breads (low enzymes) and research has found that thirty minutes to an hour maximum is all that is required. Autolysis was developed to shorten high speed mixing times and we don't really need it in home baking with our longer fermentation times. It's yet another method blindly copied across from commercial baking. We do need some flour hydration time before we begin kneading though. Magically 30min to 60 min is about right for that too. So still hold the salt back to enable better flour hydration. It's all about osmotic pressure if you want to check that out.
Using a wild yeast starter is a completely different thing and the Lactobacilli in them (with their enzymes) will impart tremendous flavours to the bread compared to a yeasted starter and a wild yeast starter can be used for a Biga too. There is no lacto-fermentation in a yeasted starter.
These preferments are a big step forward in crust, crumb and flavour of the finished loaf compared to direct inoculation with yeast with no prolonged cold fermentation, or cold proofing..
The best way to calculate the amount of leaven to use is not by their total weight, but by the amount of flour in them. So, making a dough using 500g of flour and a poolish of 20% we would add 200g of polish which has 100g of flour in it and that makes the 20% of the 500g. of flour. Working this way makes it much easier when choosing between different hydrations of poolish, or between that and a biga.
Be aware though that for reasons of ease in commercial bakeries bakers often treat a poolish, or biga as an additive to their dough and they calculate it as the total weight of both it's flour and water. Watch out for this in recipes. It is more difficult to assess the effective amount of fermenting flour when doing it this way and they need to use an extra chart in their formulas. It's simply more clumsy, but handier in a commercial bakery where there is a standard brew and someone wants to know just how much to tip out of the bucket. Another carry over from commercial baking we don't need. There are many of these.
General windows of amounts are
Poolish 10% - 30% - more is faster and better flavour. (I have gone much higher in trials without the world coming to an end.)
Biga 40% - 100%
If time is not an issue the easiest way to improve any non-enriched dough whether direct inoculation of yeast or a pre-ferment is used, is to pop it into the fridge in the banneton over night. This is called cold proofing. This is a game changer for flavour, improved crust and crumb. But, do put it in a plastic bag to stop it drying out. It can go from the fridge straight into the pre-heated oven.
The other way to go is cold bulk ferment where the dough is mixed the fermentation started after an initial kneading and the dough is put in the fridge overnight to complete the fermentation. This is more advantageous than cold proofing (retardation) when there would be too many items to put in the fridge or where they are a difficult shape. Such as with bread rolls, or ciabatta. Cold bulk fermentation has the disadvantage that the crumb is not as open as when cold proofing is used.
I do hope this is helpful to someone.
Thanks for the great video. There were all sorts of snippets in there which have added to my knowledge. Cheers.
Adding: I was reading that in the US home bakers were complaining that it is getting harder and harder to get flour without added amylase. Amylase is used in commercial baking to get higher bread volumes faster and to make the dough run through the machinery better. Commercially the industrial baker will add all sorts of other things to offset the problem of the dough made with amylase being slacker. I got caught with his last year with a flour from a small water mill who added it to his French T65 flour for his artisan baker customers. A fix is to drop the hydration to 65% - 70%. Adding between 2-4% fava ban (broad bean) flour will make the gluten tougher and more elastic. Ascorbic acid is used commercially instead of Fava bean flour. 500g of flour needs the tiniest pointy knife tip of it though. About 0.04grams / kilo of flour maximum. That is not a typo. Too much and it will affect your dough.
You could write a great bread book, Kevin. And I'd be the first in line to buy it! Every comment is like a baking class. Thank you so much for the valuable input. Anyone who reads this will learn something.
@@ChainBaker Again thanks and again I am encouraged and a little embarrassed.
Your vlogs are so very clear and accurate. Superb tutorials. I get quite a lot from them.
Home baking is very much where it is right now. Even Artisan Bakeries cut a lot of corners to keep their bread affordable in this low priced industrial bread manufacturing world. I'm reading a bread students textbook at the moment. It's aimed at small and artisan baking students. It's full of ways to cut corners whilst trying to keep some of the quality.
So, for me, it's people like you who carry the torch for us all.
Thank you for your superb material and the great presentation.
Man, I sense that I have found here, a wonderful challenge to my baking.
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing such enriching knowledge! Best regards from Brazil :)
@@guilhermeborducchi7096 You are so kind. I'm an old man who reads and tries things out. Just a home baker with some time under my belt.
But, I watch Charlie and learn yet more... Bread is wonderful... there is always more to learn. And, it is so forgiving of my mistakes.
Waving to Brazil. Bread brings us all together. It's good. 🙂
Happy baking!
Although I have baked bread for more than 60 years, it was always the traditional American straight dough method. More recently I have been learning about and making ferments. Vegetables, grains, and beverages (like kefir). Your video showed up because of this. I frequently ferment flours and grains a lot longer than you do (24 to 72 hours). The age of the ferment has everything to do with flavor and baking qualities. I often ferment different elements of my bread for different lengths of time and combine them into a dough. I love fermenting flours, grains, vegetables, and beverages because it contributes substantially to the nutrition (in lacto-fermentation, the most common kind), the bacteria that develops create their own vitamins, especially the B spectrum, that then benefits the eater. Fermenting foods breaks them down to a degree that they become more digestible which helps a number of people with wheat sensitivities. Alas, it does not solve everyone's problems though. It gives significant extra dimension to the flavor, and fermented grains cook faster too. So what's not to love? Well the answer might be that they take time, but it is hands-off time that can be spent doing other things. Look for Sandor Katz's books if you want to learn more, or check his RUclips videos. It's a gas (as they used to say). To be specific, carbon dioxide. (I am Virginia, not Jim)
This video gives a wonderful comparison of traditional pre-fermenting techniques. Thank you so much for going to all the trouble to get them ready for their close-ups all at the same time.
Thank you so much for the insight, Virginia. Some good information right there :)
I actually benefit quite a lot form fermented flour as I am gluten intolerant. Eating quick fermented yeast breads can give me a rash on my skin. But a slow proofed sourdough bread is totally safe for me to eat.
Funny enough I have his book as I was quite into fermenting vegetables a while back. Still use the principles I learned form it today.
Thanks for stopping by.
Charlie.
100% accurate.........for me it's about flavour flavour flavour. Completed ferments bring amazing flavour with 'em.
Classic Italian pizza dough will also ferment for 72 hours, if done by the traditional method
Thank you for the great post.
@@illomens2766 recipe?
Thank you, this was a quick and easy to understand explanation when a lot of other recipes and creators either don't explain or go into extreme detail that for me at least is hard to absorb for application. Your videos have been super helpful and made bread making much less overwhelming. Thank you for being willing to share :)
Thank you so much! yeah I'm not much of a scientist. This is the way I understand these principles and I'm glad it makes sense to others too :))
There are so many pizza dough and bread dough recipes that there is no one answer to that. But if you would like to see some examples of mine, then type 'chainbaker pizza' in the youtube search bar and it will come up with all my pizza recipes of which there are quite a few 😉
I can't say that I have a preference. But I think biga works best in most cases because it contains less water and ferments more slowly and is more predictable. Plus if using the autolyse method for the main dough it does not rob too much water out of it. Then again poolish is great because of the more vigorous fermentation and more acidity (if that is desired). Each method has its place and not one one is better than another. It's just about using it in the right way 😉
Couldn't agree more
Magnificent! I am a sour dough newbie and working on my starter or I guess preferment in sorts. I had not even heard of preferment. Thank you so much. You have me as a new subscriber.
I've only ever used a biga. I learned how to make one after visiting a bakery in the Italian North end of Boston. I dare say that I now make the best Italian bread in Pitt County North Carolina. Sad to say a lot of folks around here don't know what a good Italian bread is like.
I've tried poolish 100% hydration and biga at 65%. I found the flavour very similar but the biga was much easier for me to incorporate into the rest of my dough. I would try a sponge for enriched doughs but I am a beginner so trying to make a basic loaf consistently first. I want to get this right because I enjoy eating bread but struggle to digest a lot of store-bought bread. Prefermenting a decent chunk and doing the final proof in the fridge overnight helps me a lot.
Don't be afraid of giving enriched doughs a try! When I was just starting (and having little success with any kind of bread) one day I tried making doughnuts with a highly enriched butter dough. Amazing results and it actually gave me my confidence back to start back at the beginning with bread!
@@lindensheffield6434 what is that donut recipe! I want to try!
How do you keep dough moist during refrigeration?
@@wejesuss-1104I don't know but I assume that your dough is exposed to too much air. Smaller container?
@@wejesuss-1104cover the bowl with a plastic bag.
This video is immensely informative! I've wanted to use pre-ferments, but for some reason I struggle to maintain a sour dough starter. Having learned of pâte fermentée, my interest is renewed and I'm willing to give it a try!
Also, the sponge looks delicious on its own, so I definitely want to try that cinnamon rolls recipe you mentioned.
I’ve been looking several months for all of this information in 1 video. FINALLY I found it here!! I’ve been going between videos to get tid bits of all the information. You have made it clear and concise. Thank you.
Just found your videos. Can't wait to watch them all. Thank you for taking the time to explain and explore the wonders of yeast and bread making!
Thank you, Katie! Welcome to the channel :)
Super Channel! As a french chef and pizzamaker, I used to work during my free time at my baker friend's lab so we could increase our skills in bakery and patisserie, but we both moved on...
And now, RUclips just gave me the occasion to get back into it!
Your videos are the real content. Well executed, clear information, one can see you are for real.
You are the Mentor I missed. Thank you so much! I hope you'll get the retribution you deserve for being that cool.
Wow thank you so much for the kind words! I'll keep those videos coming 😎
Very informative! The Sponge is the only one I’ve used before. It was interesting to learn about the other preferments. I especially liked that you showed what happens if the ferment too long! Thank you!!
Amazing! I have been binge watching all of your videos. Thank you for explaining the chemistry behind this that allows me to work with some flexibility! Thank you.
I’m so glad I tripped across this video! I’ve just begun to try making breads with a poolish. This is exactly what I needed to learn where and how to use preferments. Now I really want to try them. I’d say there are caramel rolls in my future which will definitely please my husband.
Excellent information! I routinely make an Italian bread with biga. I never knew the uses for the other options. Can’t wait to try some different recipes.
This is such an excellent video Charlie, I have watched it several times. Another preferment I use is a “TANGZHONG” which is nothing more than a fairly stiff roux. The liquid can be water only or a water & milk combo. The liquid and flour are taken from the recipe’s basic ingredients, the same as the preferments you mentioned.
A suggestion I would make to people who may not have used a tangzhong before is keep stirring the roux (flour and liquid) until it thickens BUT DON’T COOK THE ROUX FOR TOO LONG or else too much is lost in evaporation.
The roux is cooked when the wooden spoon, or whatever you use to stir the roux, leaves a track in the thickened roux. Remove the saucepan immediately from the heat and transfer the cooked roux to a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap put directly on the roux (so a skin doesn’t develop as it cools).
When the covered roux has reached room temperature, put the covered roux in the fridge overnight. The next morning, the cold roux looks like a piece of rubber, simply cut it into 1/2 inch pieces and toss all at once into the flour you are using for your bread recipe.
I am sure Charlie can explain the making and use of tangzhong better than I.
This note is simply meant to add to Charlie’s list, it may be helpful if someone has never heard of or used a tangzhong before.
Kind regards
Donna (from Australia)
Hey Donna, thanks for the input! :) I made a Japanese milk bread video ages ago where I used a tangzhong. But now you reminded me and I want to make another one.. perhaps a chocolate flavoured one?! 🤔🤤 Could be interesting.
I don't think Yudane is a pre ferment
because there's nothing you can ferment there. Only an extremely stiff roux with milk and flour
@@woodonfire7406 It's definitely not a preferment. More like a dough conditioner.
Thank you for all this very structured and high quality information that goes in depth! Just perfect!
I am so glad I found your channel!!
Thank you so much!! I have been baking the Norwegian farm bread my mom taught me when I was 5 well over 50years ago. But just started to look for other recipes.
Thank you for explaining things so carefully. I look forward to trying some of these starters to see what works best for me. Now that I can no longer knead 5Lbs + at a time. This gives me hope that I can make a fresh loaf every other day or so.
Thank you!!
Great video! I’ve been using a poolish for my ciabatta recipe, but I’m intrigued to give the biga method a try - pre-fermenting all the flour rather than the roughly 35% that I pre-ferment in the poolish sounds like it’ll be delicious.
I've been following your channel for 5 months and the information you're putting out is incredible! Wondering if you could do a video in the future where you bake the same simple bread recipe using all 4 of the preferements and compare the results? Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much! That is a great idea! I have added it to my endless future projects list :D I'll definitely get to it. What I can say now is that there is definitely not one that is better than another. They all have their own best uses and benefits and I have recipes using all of them in the Bread With Preferment playlist. Cheers.
As an amateur pizzaiolo I found this extremely interesting as Poolish and bigas are used a lot as pizza preferments! Great video.
This video by far is the BEST and most informative video I’ve ever seen in this field.
Thanks Chain. You clarify many of the murky questions I had about preferments. By the way, I made Panini rolls with tangzhong method and kaiser rolls with yudane method and they came high and soft as described. Couldn't tell if they stayed fresh long... they were gone that day. Love the videos.
Great! I've been working on producing my version of a perfect NY style bagel all pandemic, with and without preferment. This lesson clarified poolish vs biga, and gave me ideas on things to try moving forward. Thanks.
Andy, if you nail that bagel recipe, please share! My Philly-born tastebuds miss incredible bagels. I finally just nailed my go-to baguette recipe, thanks to a poolish and Vincenzo's Plate recipe and method.
I recently switched to using a poolish for my bagels, and I think it’s really brought them to the next level!
Thank you! Thank you thank you! All the information I needed on pre-ferments in one place, clearly and concisely explained, with visual demonstrations -- and more information I didn't think I needed but did!
Thank you, Elaine! :) I'm glad you found it useful.
Really interesting presentation, I have only used Poolish in the past for things like pizza base. I keep it in the fridge for a few days which makes it ferment very slowly but generates loads of flavour.
I've been following you since you started this channel and I learn something every time but I must say this is one of my favorites. Your ability to explain these concepts is unparalleled.
Wow thank you so much! Yeah I though this may be quite a useful video for bakers out there. There is another video coming next week on this topic too. Thank you for your support and for following along. Happy baking! 😊
Thank you for this wonderful guidance. From Tanzania
Hey Sally! Thank you for popping in 😉
Cheers from the UK 💂
This is an amazingly detailed video. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this!
Oh my glob! This channel is the answer for all my questions! Ive been wanting to learn how to make breads and understand preferments. Instantly subscribed. Your channel deserves more recognition!
Welcome to the channel! :))
Excellent instruction and so visually appealing the way you place your ingredient containers. The slow motion action is perfect. You are a wonderful teacher.
Thank you 🙏
This is great, I am constantly reading up on these methods and then forgetting what I read. The visuals are so helpful. Thanks.
Thank you Judy! :) next week I will publish a video on how to convert any recipe to preferment. That might be quite useful too.
@@ChainBaker definitely, thanks.
Thank you very much!!! I've made all of them but also just a starter without yeast. And now I do know how to improve my biga for Ciabatta Bread!
Brilliant, thank you! I have used the poolish preferment for focaccia and it works very well.
Super interesting, super informative. Thank you! May the kitchen chemistry continue.
Thank you so much 🤩
Excellent video and explanation. I’ve been baking for over 35 years and I make all kinds of bread. I’ve not tried biga or pate fermente. I’ll have to give those a try. I agree, once you understand baker’s math and hydration levels, it open up a new world on bread. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much, Spencer! 🙏
Very descriptive, nice category separation and easy to follow examples. Now I understand, I have been over proofing my poolish at 24 hours.
Thank you. :)
Just found this channel, and I’m so excited. Thank you for explaining basics and for the demonstrations. It’s just what I needed for beginning my journey into baking breads, which has been a little intimidating and a bit disappointing in the past.
Welcome to the channel 🤩
I love these videos, I feel like I'm getting free culinary school! One of my favorite cookbooks has a recipe for waffles that involves proofing the batter overnight. It has the milk already added (the eggs are added after the proof), so in the end it can sit for well over 12 hours. It doesn't look as dead as this sponge, and is active. The flavor is wonderful and as I've had it a dozen times without ill effect, I suspect it's safe.
I'd be interested in the name of that book! 😊
Another terrific video, expertly explained and crafted. Thank you.
Thank you Robin 🙏
You just answered so many questions I didn't know that I needed to ask! So thorough and interesting. Thanks for this!
Glad it was helpful! :)
Making dough is sooo much more complicated AND that make its MORE wonderful. As an artist, of 50 years, I'm still learning so many techniques, brushes, paints, pastels... Baking is so much like painting and making art. 🍞🥖🖌🎨 SUBBED!
I’ve been making bread for two years (in other words, the pandemic) tonight I have my first preferment out in the kitchen and I’m excited to try it tomorrow for a big rustic loaf. Your examples and explanations were excellent so I’ll go into it tomorrow with a better grasp of what I’m shooting for. Thanks!
Thank you so much for that really informative video! I have been making sourdough since March last year. I think I’m not a “natural” at baking bread but have discovered that by using a poolish my sourdough is more likely to be successful shape and a really good tasty loaf of bread even if it’s not a pure sourdough.!
Thank you 🙏 yeah it's the next best thing and the best part is that there's no upkeep ;) I have been leaning more towards biga lately as it is more predictable. But perhaps coming into winter as the weather gets cooler I'll switch back to poolish.
That sounds great..would really appreciate your recipe..
This video is a phenomenally good idea with outstanding execution!!! THank you so much for this !
What an amazing video; no blah blah blah and straight to the point; awesome to understand the differences. Great job!!!
Thank you! I'm glad you found it useful.
I normally watch and enjoy your comprehensive videos without writing but I want you to know that your videos are fantastic! They are very informative and you don’t get sidetracked with useless information.
I love using poolish in my breads. Most of my recipes don’t call for a preferment but as you said in this video, the poolish contributes to the elasticity and flavour of the dough. I take 20% of the bread recipe’s flour and match that in equal part of water. A few times at the beginning of using poolish, I forgot that I had already used 20% of the flour & I found it helpful to write a note to myself changing the main dough weight. What I tend to do now is weigh the total flour, and out of that bowl I weigh my poolish flour.
I’m looking forward to your next video!
Kind regards
Donna from Australia
Thank you so much Donna 🙏 that is a great way to make sure not to forget. For me it's slightly different as I always weigh out everything in my bowls for the video so there is no chance to miss it. But then I do have lots more washing up to do after 😄
Ua
I have used a sponge in bread making for many years, and have received many compliments for it I have also used pate fermente but I prefer the sponge for it's simplicity. Preferments also make the dough a little easier to knead, but their real contribution to the bread is flavour.
Thank you for this video. The only preferment i have used is the Biga. For the recipe I used, the Biga was most of the dough - 2/3. It was ready to use in 14 hours, in my cold Winter kitchen. My bread came out really nice using the Biga. I will definitely use it again.
I just found your channel Charlie. Thank you for all the information,, it is all so clear..concise, useful, and thorough but not overly informative where I feel overwhelmed in the world of dough. ANYWAY, I saw this video and the excitement I felt I cannot explain. THANK YOU!
Hey, Ani! Welcome to the channel :)
When you use unbleached white flour the best to add is the sponge with 100% yeast added modify. It give the bread a very good flavor in a 45 minute ferment, then shape and rise 45 minutes again, then bake at 425 degrees faren.
This recipe is developed through trial and error, but works good.
The other is to use high hydration polish to make chabadah bread. Make in a warm place. You make the polish in only one hour because the rise and fold will create the flavor, then add it to very sticky dough the place in a container to fold twice 30 minutes apart.after last rise which is the second one place it on a well floured counter and cut to size and place on cooking tray to rise for 30 minutes. bake at 425 degrees faren until golden brown.
Thank you so much for the input! :)
Finally, the (mathematical) basics became clear to me!
Vito Iacopelli made me curious about Poolish for pizza dough, but I did never get the math/logic behind it. With your Video, and some info from the comments, I do have a basic calculation:
*Take 20% of the total flour for the dough you're planning on making. These 20% flour will be matched 1:1 with water (in weight), and 0,1% (active dry?) yeast is added.*
The flour and water in the Poolish will be deducted from the total flour/water required by the dough recipe.
*Question:* I wonder, id a Poolish still seems to make sense, if my (Pizza)-Dough usually ferments for 3-6 days in the fridge? Will I gain anything, or is the making of the Poolish most likely just beneficial, if the final dough is supposed to be a "quick" one?
Here is my conversion guide - ruclips.net/video/rRV3O68r944/видео.html
This was a great video. I'm here in the Bay area so of course, I'm a big Chad Robertson fan. His book however does not go deeply into the pre-ferments other than to make them. This really helped me understand better why. Thanks
@ChainBaker - thank you for posting. Such a very interesting video. I have been making bread for quite some time but not much since the end of lockdown, like other people I suppose (who has the time now?!!). I only realised recently that one of my favourite breads, ciabatta, should be made using a biga. And now I know how to make one! I love the detail in your videos, especially when you mention temperature of the dough, as well as the surroundings (we live in a 1920s-built cottage on the north coast of Northern Ireland, so it’s not as warm as other homes). Cheers. 😀👍☘️
Awesome vid! I’ve used polish in many kinds of artisan bread, and they always turn out so much nicer. One thing I would like to know is how these different kind of preferments affect the final bread? What kinds of bread are they ideal for?
I mention a couple different breads for each preferment in the written article. But you can certainly use most preferments interchangeably. The flavour they add will be determined by how long they have been fermented for. A shorter proof will equal a sweeter dough. A longer will be more acidic.
Not going to lie. I saw the thumbnail after scrolling through a bunch of cooking videos and immediately thought, "Man my mans left his milk out so long it became yogurt."
Thank you for this. A lot to learn and use. Comparison videos are really useful for deciding which direction to go in. Big thumbs up.
I had no idea that I needed to know all this, but I actually found every piece of information in this video extremely useful, and it has helped me better understand several things about bread making in general. I love using a sponge for yeasted breads. I feel like I get much better performance out of the yeast if I activate it by making a sponge rather than activate it by putting it in warm sugar water as so many recipes suggest. If you’ve never used a preferment of any kind, I would highly suggest starting out by trying a sponge for your favorite yeasted bread recipe.
Thank you for the very well done video, the only preferment I've done out of these is the poolish, I do enjoy the rich taste of a well fermented bread. This video is insightful and may be what expands my bread making hobby.
as others have mentioned, this was a perfect balance of quality information but also being easy to absorb, thank you!!
Thank you :)
My goodness, you're so generous. Thank you so much for all the learnings. Be blessed!
🙏
This is an EXCELLENT treatment and explaination of the the "stuff I did"! Thank you!
Thank you, this a good explanation. I often use biga or poolish.
Very informative, well done video. Thanks for making and sharing. I learned a lot!
Solid information on the various preferments used in bread baking. Very well explained, another quality video 👏🏻 thank you for your continued hard work. Look forward to your videos every week 🙌🏻
Thank you Matthew 🙏
@@ChainBaker 🙏🏻😁
Thank you for this video…I started baking when pandemic started and made many different doughs. I’ve always been a little confused about all the different preferments your explanations are very good. I’ll be watching the video a few more times to make sure to try some of these. Thank you , I did subscribe and liked 🤙
Welcome to the channel :)
Your videos are so educational! I'm a baby baker and I've been having trouble making bread that has the desired quality I'm looking for. You were the only channel that discussed the importance of temperature. Only when I followed your ciabatta video did I get the results I wanted. Thank youuuu!
P.S. your video's music is fun, too!
Cheers! ✌
Wow thanks so much! I'm 57 and just started bread making, this is much needed and appreciated information. Thanks for taking the time and sharing your knowledge. This video was put together very nicely. I am subscribing thank you again.
Thank you so much and welcome to the channel.
That is awesome! Never too late to learn something new. The 'Principles of Baking' playlist on my channel should provide plenty of information for you. Cheers!
From Vito Iacopelli on YT, the Pizza Master...I learned to do a double ferment with poolish. It's what you described for the Biga.... It's a 72hr double fermentation and it's always amazing! This video is very educational, thank you!
These videos are gold. I exaggerated my bread knowledge trying to get a job, and to my surprise, ACTUALLY got in. Now I'm flailing a bit trying not to make a total ass of myself, so these are incredibly helpful.
Good luck! 😁
This video is perfect, just the facts and science of baking. Thank you
That's the best baking instruction I've seen. Subscribed, looking forward to watching your other work
Thank you so much! Welcome to the channel. I'm glad you found it useful. I will make even more videos like this in the next year. Cheers!
I am looking forward to trying this out.. thank you
Great video man! Thank you. There is also bigs technique in which you barely mix the ingredients and don’t make the biga smooth and homogeneous.
Super informative! I learned a lot about preferments that I never knew before. I’ll have to use these in future bread making recipe.
Thanks, Gabe! I'm glad you found it useful 😎👍
What a fantastic video, thank you for sharing! Just started following you and I'm looking forward to trying your recipes. I personally love using a biga or poolish for my homemade pizza. Have also try it with beer instead of water. So many ways to enjoy!
Thank you, Claudia. Welcome to the channel :)
That is the beauty of bread making - it's so customisable and there are many ways do to one thing 😊
I used the beer too, and the taste change based of the type of beer you use, I tried also with Moscato wine instead of water and the flavor was so good, but it's seem more a "pane dolce" than a regular bread, perfect to me because I'm italian and I prefer sweet breakfast, for this reason I portionated it in small sizes like 90-100 gr
Excellent explanations here. A sincere "thank you" from an amateur bread maker!
Glad you found it useful. Cheers! :)
just tried a recipe with a preferment for the first time. It was a Poolish and it made the best bread I have ever had. Can't wait to learn more and add on more tools
For me, cold bulk fermentation is the new go-to method ruclips.net/video/x-8UoEgtt48/видео.html 😎
Im starting to learn baking by myself and this video tastes like Gold. Gonna watch It a few times and try each kind in practice
Very educational! Can’t wait to try all the different ones. Thanks!
Thank you this is very helpful. Im new in this subject but ive made some poolish and theres no going back to not using a pre-ferment in home made breads. Ive been using 150g flour 150g water pinch yeast and mix it in with water for loaf in morning yield rich crusty bread.
Hi Charlie, I baked a loaf today using your Biga preferment and your recipe for plain white bread. I combined your recipe with my kneading and rising method...if you can call it a method. I am quite pleased and I'm waiting not-so-patiently for it to cool down.
Cheers to you for a Happy 2022 and may your RUclips rise to the skies!
Awesome! I like that you made it using the all principles :) Happy New Year to you! 🥳
Btw I had a dedicated white bread with biga video too - ruclips.net/video/QXEgKzjWFC8/видео.html it's probably exactly how you made it anyway 😉
@@ChainBaker That's the one I used for the recipe. 👍
Thank you for your time and sharing this video truly appreciated stay blessed
What a lesson!! Thank you! God Bless
Another Great Video full of valuable information given in a short amount of time and very well visualized for the viewer. I primarily work with Poolish and sourdough starters but the other information will greatly help with my dinner rolls and perhaps my Brioche bun and breads. Thank Chef, Maestro
Thank you so much Dan!
This is SO informative. Thank you!
You can tell this dude's kneaded a few million loaves in his day. Great vid. Simplifies the dough-making process with some educational elements. Nice job.
🙏
Outstanding instrucional video.
Thank you.
You're brilliant, a true master these explanations are so easy to understand
✌️😎
Wow, so much information yet so easy to understand. Thank you for this great video, I can't wait to start baking new things.
Thank you, Marion!
All your videos have great production and information. Preferments! Thanks!
Thank you so much :)
Thanks. This has improved my bread no end.
Absolutely love this informative explanation, thanks for all the Great Bread baking suggestions.
Hands down most informative bread baker on RUclips.
Thanks again
ChainBaker
🙏
I have some "Carl's Sourdough starter", from sourdough starter that traveled to Oregon with Carl in a covered wagon in the 1800s. I also have some San Francisco starter that supposedly is made with water and flour from SF to get that unique taste. I can't tell the difference. I am a diabetic so I have to treat myself to bread that is special, and I appreciate all ur varieties to chose from.
Thanks, I’m new at this. I’ve only used poolish and sourdough. Still don’t understand baker’s percentage. Glad you’re sharing your knowledge
This should answer some questions - ruclips.net/video/v9tPXTlbYxM/видео.html
this is truly amazing.... I am a beginner home baker and my brain is processing all this info, I am truly grateful that I've found your channel!
everything looks simple now and so fascinating, it's probably the way you put so much passion in your creations that I can literally feel it through my screen... jajajaj saludos from México
Cheers! :)
Exactly i was looking for several times, thank you!
Excellent, very informative. THANK YOU!
Thank you i truly appreciate your explanation and the break downs of preferments it opens a million possibilities of yummys 😋 my boys will love the help!!
Glad it was helpful 😊
As someone who bakes a lot I appreciated the quality of that small spatula and immediately wanted one.
Fantastic Video!! Thank you for explaining with Examples! Best Explanation I’ve seen.