This is a type of “preferment”, which means a fermentation of dough that occurs before your final dough is made. Poolish is usually made with 100% hydration, which means it’s made with equal parts flour and water. With a little yeast (and sometimes some salt), the mixture is allowed to ferment for as little as an hour to as much as two days. The most common reason poolish is used over other preferments is when extensibility of the final dough is desired.
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