The Fresh Loaf

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Poolish recipe

Jim Burgin's picture
Jim Burgin

Poolish recipe

Hi,

I'm looking for a recipe using Poolish in a bread that does not have so much water that it becomes too sticky to handle, and can be shaped into a boule that with enough surface tension will rise up more than out.  Anybody out there have one?  Please share.   Thanks much.

 

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

have more to do with handling the dough than any one recipe (list of ingredients)  unless you want a recipe that is very specific in dough handling.

It has been my experience that stickiness in a Poolish is caused by too long a ferment for that particular flour, shortening the fermenting time usually clears this up.  

Rising more up and out has to do with getting the maximum effort from the dough gluten, the higher the hydration the more important it is to fold the dough while it is bulk rising. The overlapping and stretching of the dough adds strength helping it keep a more upright shape.  When a dough rises more out than up (and this is not desired) it is a sign to fold the dough and reshape it.  Folding can be simply in half, quarters, envelope type, one round, two or more depending on the hydration and type of recipe.  If the dough is however over-fermented, any attempt at folding may be futile until enough fresh unfermented dough is added.

Some flours tend to be stickier than others.  Try using wet methods instead of floury dry ones to manipulate dough and see if it works out better.   Sometimes it helps to let someone watch the way you handle the dough if shortening the pre-ferment ferment time doesn't work.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

dough recipe, a familiar one.  Weigh or measure out all the ingredients.  Now take half the flour and add equal weight (half the flour volume) of water with just a pinch of the yeast and make a soft batter or loose dough.  Cover and let sit, say 8 hrs for starters.  That is a conservative, yet long enough ferment to improve the flavour of the dough.  (Then next time lengthen the poolish time.  Say to 12 hrs.   Use the same flour and compare the results.)  Keep in mind that temperature plays a big role.  If your room temp is 90°F  8 hrs may be too long.  

Then combine the rest of the pre-measured ingredients to the poolish.  If you add all the yeast, you will notice that the dough will be ready to shape sooner and that your dough rise times are now shorter so don't be caught off guard and over ferment the dough.  Adding a poolish, pre-ferments your dough, namely up to half of it, means most of the bulk ferment is done so the rest of the flour will ferment in less time than the dough recipe without the poolish.  Use your acquired experience with the recipe to judge when to shape the loaf and bake it.   

Jim Burgin's picture
Jim Burgin

Mini,

Your reply is so helpful.   I am a beginner at this.

Thanks much,

Jim

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

...fold the dough and reshape it (not the last shape) so it can continue rising more up than out.  The best way to observe this is just to let the dough rise on the table and cover with a see-through bowl.  When you see it spreading quickly, uncover, flip the dough over (top down) and fold the dough, stretching it out (from say west) and folding it over to the east.   Try not to trap air or flour inside the folds.  The sneak out the lower east side and fold it over to the west.  R  epeat for north and south.   Flip the dough over so the top is back up and tuck under those pokey square corners returning the dough to a nice tight round shape.  Cover and let it keep rising.