Baker's Secrets - The Poolish Starter

Poolish? What the heck is that I hear you Cry?

You hear a lot of talk about sourdough being the king of breads but did you know there were easier ways to achieve that Sourdough flavour and texture? Ways which do not involve feeding some fetid slop in a jar religiously every few days?

Bring on the Poolish! A secret of baker's far and wide. Some even go as far as to use Poolish starters in their breads and claim them to be sourdough the cheeky beggars.

Now I am not knocking sourdough. It is a fine thing but as we all know it can be quite the trial to keep a sourdough starter alive what with working and living a real life. So I tend to use a poolish starter in my bread for that chewy texture and lovely flavour that is normally associated with a sourdough.

So enough chat, let get pooly!

You will need

For the Poolish
A clean jar and lid
100 grams of strong white flour
100ish mls of tepid water
A pinch of fast action yeast

For the bread
450 grams of strong white bread flour
200 mls of tepid water
A level teaspoon of fast action yeast
A teaspoon of salt

Easy! Let's make the f®ck out of it!

To make

The Poolish

Add your flour to the jar with the pinch of yeast. Then add the water. You can add a little more if required to make the mix like a medium batter consistency

Give it a good stir, put the lid on and leave for anything between 12 and 18 hours. If you are in a rush you can use it after about 8 hours. Just make sure it is bubbly and looks like frothy brains. Like below

After you have waited you can make your dough. It's quite simple, you use less water than normal because you are adding your new Poolish starter!

Combine your flour, salt and yeast in a big bowl and add all of your Poolish and the warm water

Give it a knead for a few minutes till smooth and shiny

Cover with a tea towel and leave for an hour or so till doubled in size. Get your oven on at 200 degrees

After the hour or so, give another quick knead to knock the air bubbles out of it and shape into a fat cigar shape or a ball, depending on personal preference.

Place on a baking tray ready for the oven. I sprinkle some fine semolina in the tray to stop the bread sticking.

After it has doubled in size again, slash the top with a knife and wallop in the oven for 40 minutes

Take out oven and place on a wire cooling rack

After it has cooled enough take a comedy picture of yourself with your fine poolish loaf

After the posting, slice it, toast it, butter it and enjoy the fine sourdough-esqueness of the Poolish loaf!