October 21, 2008 - 10:49am
Pre-Ferment Questions
Hey all, some questions about the pre-ferment...
In my past I was a very experienced brewer and know from that pursuit that how you handle the yeast PRIOR to getting it into the wort (brew) had some pretty drastic effects on the final product. So...
- Does the time length of the pre-ferment effect final outcome in either taste/crumb/loaf shape/etc?
- Does the hydration of the pre-ferment effect any of the above? In other words, does a really wet, soupy pre-ferment do better or worse than a dry, doughy one?
And also, brewers have access to some seriously high-quality and specialized yeasts, do bakers have anything similar?
Thanks all!
Just starting up a batch of Jason's Quick Focaccia [1] right now. I'm using the basic Fleishmann's grocery store yeast but I put it and the 475g (!!!) of warm water into the mixer and that's just starting to bubble. Man, I love that smell.