How to make bread using a poolish. (Via the Kitchn)

Since I’m on a bread making kick recently, I decided to try out The Kitchn’s artisan bread recipe which calls for using a type of pre-fermentation called a poolish. The recipe itself is very simple, but like most bread it requires a lot of time waiting.

The poolish is a mixture of flour, yeast and water that can sit anywhere from 2-10 hours and ends up like this:

It’s very important that you mix the poolish well for a good 2 minutes and work it into a batter, otherwise it will just be a clumpy mass of yeasty dough.It’s then added to a mixture of water a yeast and is supposed to improve the texture and flavor of a simple bread.

The bread turned out lovely, however 25 minutes was more than enough in my oven, even though it calls for 30-40 minutes. I do have a convection oven so that might have been a factor.

The crust was nice and crisp and the inside was soft and chewy, A perfect french style loaf of bread that would be great for a mediterranean meal of tasty cheeses and antipastos.

So, if you have some free time to wait (I made my poolish the night before and left it till morning) try it out!