Artisan Bread by Keith Cohen

Author:Keith Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MBI
Published: 2014-03-11T04:00:00+00:00

“Preferments are live, active yeast cultures that are added to the dough to achieve complex flavors and irregular, aerated crumb structures and chewy crusts.”

There are two types of starters, stiff starters and liquid starters, and within these there are different kinds of stiff starters and different types of liquid starters. A stiff starter, sometimes called firm or dry, produces bread with a more golden crumb and mellower flavor. If you’re not baking bread daily or refreshing the starter every day—or if you want a starter that can be stored long term—a stiff starter is preferable to use because it grows more slowly and will collapse more slowly if neglected. A liquid starter, sometimes called wet or sponge, produces bread with a slightly more acidic flavor and slightly larger holes. A stiff starter consists of two-thirds flour to one-third water, while a liquid starter consists of equal weights of flour and water and is refreshed with equal weights of flour and water. All preferments, except wild yeast starters, are made with commercial yeast. You want to be careful that the amount of starter you use is just right; if you use too much, your bread will taste sour and your gluten strands will weaken.

At Orwashers, we use preferments in many of our breads to develop their flavor. Sometimes we use more than one in a recipe. A recipe may call for yeast, which acts as a bit of kick-start to get the fermentation process going. Then we’ll also use a biga or other starter to prolong the fermentation process and increase the depth of flavor of the bread. Preferments aren’t always necessary, particularly for some of the “simpler” recipes or recipes that call for a lot of flavorful ingredients like cheese or spices, because they do not need the flavor development.

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