Pre-ferments. © CooksInfo / 2020
A pre-ferment is a dough that has had a head-start on fermenting before the rest of the ingredients are added.
It adds taste, and helps the finished bread product hold moisture so that it will stay fresher long.
Pre-ferments also helped give strength at a time when European flours were weaker.
Poolish and biga are, respectively, French and Italian versions of pre-fermented dough.
Pre-ferments. © CooksInfo / 2020