📖 Read pages 40-57, Chapter 1. What is it About Bread: Classification of breads & beginning of 12 stages of bread, of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by (Ten Speed Press, , ISBN: 978-1-60774-865-6)
Lots of nice definitions and categorization, though I can already tell from other readings that some of the definitions, particularly for pre-ferments, aren’t always as solid as I’d like them to be. As if he were a mathematician, however, he seems to delineate a pretty tight set here that he indicates he’ll stick to throughout the book.
Four types of pre-fermented dough
Stiff/firm: pâte fermentée and biga (no salt)
Wet: poolish and sponge (or levain levure)
I hear you. There’s no way on earth to be precise about the words for a pre-ferment, and I for one tend to use them interchangeably, at least to some extent. Of course, if Reinhart offered precise definitions, even hydrations, of “stiff” and “wet” that would at least make consistency possible. His video on the 12 steps is rather good, and something I show in my workshops.
I hear you. There’s no way on earth to be precise about the words for a pre-ferment, and I for one tend to use them interchangeably, at least to some extent. Of course, if Reinhart offered precise definitions, even hydrations, of “stiff” and “wet” that would at least make consistency possible. His video on the 12 steps is rather good, and something I show in my workshops.