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White Bread with Poolish

There are several methods for making starters for bread. A starter usually consists of a mixture of wheat flour, water, and a leavening agent (typically yeast or a sourdough culture). Starter, biga, poolish, preferment, or sponge – they all do the same job and differ by water content.
They are critical for best tasting bread and improve the quality and texture. 
Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Resting period18 hours
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Baking
Cuisine: Indian
Servings: 4 Loafs
Author: Nikolay's Kitchen

Ingredients

Poolish

  • 200 g White Bread Flour
  • 200 g Water
  • 1 g Dry Active Yeast

Main Dough

  • 1 kg White Bread Flour
  • 600+20 g Water
  • 10 g Fresh Yeast or 3,5g Dry Yeast
  • 22 g Salt

Instructions

Poolish

  • In plastic or glass container add water and dry yeast and whisk until yeast has dissolved. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula until a smooth batter has formed. Scrape from the sides of the container and cover it with cling film. Mark the height of the starter on the side of the container with a marker so you can see how much it rises. Make sure the container is big enough and has room to triple in volume. 
    Let it rise at room temperature for 10-12 hours until ready to use. If you are not going to use it after 12hours keep it in the fridge so this will slow down the fermenting, but don't keep it longer than 48hours. Before use let it stay at room temperature for about 2 hours to warm up and activate. 

Main Dough

  • Next day make soft dough mixing by hand or mixer all flour, poolish, and 600g water until you do not see any bits of dry flour. Cover and let it rest for 30-40min. Do not skip this resting period. 
    After that dissolve yeast (dry or fresh) in 20g water and add it to the dough gradually by kneading with hand or mixer until you develop a smooth, elastic and silky dough. 
    Leave it in a plastic container big enough for the triple volume of the dough and cover.
    Make stretch and fold every 30minutes four times. See the video at the bottom.
    After the dough doubles in volume place it on a floured worktop, divide it into four parts and shape four balls. Cover with a cloth and let it rest for 30minutes. Do not skip this bench rest.
    Now pre-share the bалls into Batons, Baguettes or Round loaves of bread.
    Place them in floured linen and let them have the final proof. 
    When they double in volume it is ready to put them in the oven.
    Bake in a preheated oven at 230C with a pot of water on the bottom for making steam for first 15minutes and then remove the pot and bake until ready.