36. What do all these baker's terms like poolish, biga, chef, mean?

Poolish-- Is French for a mixture of flour and water and a little
bakers yeast. The ratio of flour to water is 50 - 50 by weight.

Biga-- Italian for the same thing except the biga can be like a
poolish or very firm.

The above are both yeasted.

Chef-- a dough-like starter that is either an unrefreshed levain or a
piece of dough saved from the previous day's bake.

Levain-- a chef that has been refreshed with flour and water.

Biga Natural-- same as levain, but in Italian.

Mother-- this is a batter like starter of flour and water that is unrefreshed

Sour-- a mother that has been refreshed with flour and water.

Mother = chef - it only depends on the consistency (chef dough-like,
mother batter-like). Most people here in the US call this just plain
starter.

Sour = levain - again it depends on the consistency of the starter.
(Sour batter-like, levain dough-like) - The difference between these
terms and the ones above is that they represent the term that
indicates that the starter is activated.

Chef, levain, biga natural, mother, and sour contain only natural
yeast cultures.

All of the above are often referred to as either starters or sponges.


-Matt

--

Chef is a piece of dough held over to start the process of making
future doughs. It preserves the makeup of the leaven culture used at
any particular bakery. In the old days, use of la stiff (dough
consistency) chef was important because there was no refrigeration.
Stiff consistency = slow fermentation compared to thin consistency.
Most bakeries now use more liquid leavens, and store them in the
refrigerator when necessary.

Levain is the French term for a sponge or soft dough that is being
used to propagate a sourdough culture.

Sponge is a thinner (more watery than dough) dough stage that allows
for vigorous fermentation. It may incorporate all the water that will
eventually be in the dough, or some portion in it. When baking with
commercial yeast, a sponge allows a baker to only use one-quarter the
amount of yeast, which reduces yeast's off-flavor. When baking with
"natural ferments"-- sourdough cultures-- the culture is often
propagated in a series of sponges which are then called levains
(French), barms, leavens, starters and a few other names. I
personally have come to use the term "starter leaven" for a new
leaven culture that is being developed, the term "storage leaven" for
one that I hold over in the refrigerator, and the term "intermediate
leaven" for one that I use as a stage of propagation between the
storage leaven and the dough itself. In France and Germany there are
specific names for the three levains that make up (with the chef) the
twenty four hour cycle of the traditional small bakery.

proof -- This term is best used to describe the time of rising of the
loaves AFTER they have been shaped, although it is also used to
describe the time of rising before they are shaped. Many professional
bakers use the term "fermentation stage" for that time after mixing
and before shaping

Yeasts:commercial -- This refers to yeasts that are propagated in
nearly pure culture and (these days) usually sold in dried form. In
the past 10 years manufacturers have moved beyond "natural selection"
and the refinement of mutations-- they are now using genetic
engineering. Yeast are available with high resistance to freezing,
for example. Though most yeast packets contain some bacteria, there
are not enough to produce the acid and the volatile organic compounds
that give sourdough bread its flavor. Also, most people use so much
commercial yeast that the bread tastes more of it than of wheat. The
amount used can be reduced when bread is made with the sponge process

Yeasts:sourdough -- Bread made with natural leavens: a mixed culture
of yeast and bacterial strains recovered from environmental surfaces
(grain, grapes, etc.) and then propagated continuously by bakers.

-Dan