Mother dough’s best
In the world of breadmaking, you’ve probably heard of the term mother yeast or pre-ferment. The famed Boudin in San Francisco prides itself in using the same mother dough for over 150 years. Pre-ferments form the base of flavour for most artisanal breads, but it boils down to one simple component – the yeast. Creating your own mother yeast isn’t rocket science. As a living organism, the only thing you need to do to keep mother yeast alive is to periodically feed it with flour and water. The longer this process goes on and the yeast is properly maintained, the better the flavour gets developed. While all pre-ferments are essentially the same, they do have variations and are used for different kinds of breads.
Biga
Roughly two parts flour to one part water, this Italian style of pre-ferment is perfect for imparting a light, open texture in bread. Ciabatta is the best example of what this pre-ferment does, adding a complex, nutty flavour.
Levain
The base of all sourdoughs; these preferments are often kept alive over extensive periods of time, providing the highest level of fermentation and development of flavour. Due to the long process, these starters are often affected by their surroundings, and no two levains will ever have the exact flavour profiles.
Poolish
A wetter variation featuring equal parts water and flour, poolish or pouliche helps in the extensibility of the dough – which makes it well-suited for its use in baguettes and batards. It further helps by breaking down proteins in the dough, allowing for more Maillard reactions and crust browning.