Poolish - All the Tricks to Prepare It

Although flour, water, yeast and salt are the 4 basic ingredients used in bread making, the methods for preparing bread can be varied.
Today we will clarify the poolish, also called liquid chariot: it is a particular pre-dough that is prepared to facilitate leavening and to make the bread more aromatic and fragrant.
The poolish is prepared by mixing 1 part of flour with 1 part of water and a variable quantity of yeast. The amount of yeast varies according to the leavening times: the higher the percentage of yeast, the longer the poolish will take to be ripe at the right point. In most cases, the following proportions are respected:

• 100 g of flour + 100 ml of water + 2 g of fresh brewer's yeast: rest for 2 hours
• 100 g of flour + 100 ml of water + 1.5 g of fresh brewer's yeast: rest for 3 hours
• 100 g of flour + 100 ml of water + 0.5 g of fresh brewer's yeast: rest for 8 hours
• 100 g of flour + 100 ml of water + 0.1 g of fresh brewer's yeast: rest for 12-24 hours

Tricks and secrets
To facilitate fermentation, the temperature of the "water" must be lukewarm (around 30 ° C) and it is advisable to prefer one Flour very strong (eg Manitoba), able to develop a lot of gluten in contact with liquids. The poolish is ready when numerous superficial bubbles are observed and the pre-mix begins to sag.

Temperature
To be even more precise, one could also calculate the exact water value to be used for the poolish. We indicate 70 as a fixed value: this value indicates the ideal sum of the ambient temperature, that of the flour and that of the water. The sum of the ambient temperature and that of the flour is subtracted from this value.
70 - (T ° C flour + T ° C ambient) = T ° C water
For example, if the ambient temperature you work with is 21 ° C and that of the flour is 20 ° C, then the optimal water temperature is calculated as follows: 70- (20 + 21) = 29 ° C

Video of the Recipe

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Identity Card of the Recipe

• 167 KCal Calories per serving

• Ingrediants

  • 100 g of Manitoba flour
  • 100 ml of water
  • 2 g of brewer's yeast

  Materials Needed

  • Bowl
  • Transparent film
  • Food thermometer
  • Scale weighs food

  Preparation

  1. Sift the white flour into a bowl.
  2. Dissolve the brewer's yeast in warm water and add everything to the flour, mixing carefully with a wooden spoon: you will have to obtain a thick batter.
  3. Cover the bowl with cling film and let the poolish rest in a warm place.

  When the poolish is ready
  The poolish is ripe when there are numerous bubbles on the surface and when the mixture tends to give way along the edges of the bowl.

  4. After 2 hours, the poolish is ripe and ready to be combined with the remaining ingredients (flour, water, oil, salt and possibly other yeast).

  Alice's comment - PersonalCooker

  The poolish is ready. At this point, it is possible to add more flour, water, salt and oil to the poolish until a smooth and homogeneous dough is obtained. Very often it is used to add another small quantity of brewer's yeast (or mother yeast) to the final dough, which must then be left to rise again.

  Nutritional values ​​and Health Comment on the recipe

  Poolish is a mixture with a prevalence of carbohydrates.
  Compared to the proportions of the final mixture, it has a low energy intake, due to the large concentration of water; however, as it is used in small doses, it does not significantly affect the final nutritional value.