Submitted by toyman on February 6, 2009 - 1:03pm

Poolish Question

For those who use poolish, what do you do with any excess?  I've read (somewhere) that you can freeze it in a greased plastic bag.  Anyone do this? 

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yes...

we have been freezing poolish and biga for a long time. Have used it after several weeks and it is still just fine. Will be interested to see what others have to say. c

Why?

I'm just a bit puzzled as to why there would be excess poolish and why one would freeze it.

As with any preferment, you should be able to make the exact amount required and use all of it for the bake.

Just curious...

I believe...

according to BBA it can be frozen, but as mentioned above I haven't run accross a recipe that doesn't call for the entire poolish to be used.

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Il Fornaio breadbook...

We love this bread book. In it they have recipes where you make extra and then store/freeze the rest for later. You do not use all of it in a recipe. I have had great success with every recipe I have used in this book over the years. c

http://www.amazon.com/Il-Fornaio-Baking-Book-Recipes/dp/B000BPUONM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234016585&sr=1-1

Volume measurements?

I followed your link, Trailrunner, and checked into the book.  It looks very nice but one reviewer commented that all the recipes are by volume rather than weight.  Is this correct?

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yes but...

it is a very well edited and reliable cookbook. There are a number of weight oriented artisan cookbooks out there that I will never buy because they are so poorly edited. I have shelf after shelf of cookbooks that were written before the "commercial duplication" craze began. I love them and would rather use them in many cases . Just my opinion of course :)  c

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