The Museum of Food and Culture and Rebel Bread present

what happens before it’s bread dough

1. “How All Bread Works:” The Bread Process

2. Pre-Ferments 101 – featuring the Poolish and Starter used in tonight’s breads

3. Sourdough Starter FAQs

4. Tips and Tricks for High-Altitude Baking

How All Bread Works

Pre-Ferments 101

Pre-ferments are the flour+water+yeast mixtures that you make before you mix the dough. They contribute the following qualities:

• Leaven the dough

• Add more complex flavor

• Increase the extensibility of the dough (make it more pliable)

• Extend the finished bread’s shelf life

Tonight’s Ciabatta is made with a Poolish

Equal parts flour and water, and just a pinch of yeast, come together to add a new dimension to your dough without the extra work of a sourdough starter.

Tasting Notes: creamy | nutty | airy

PROCESS Thoroughly mix together the above ingredients and allow to ferment at room temperature (~75ºF) for 12-16 hours before mixing into dough.

Tonight’s Sourdough is made with a Starter

The natural yeast and bacteria living in the air, on your hands, and on the flour itself come together to impart a unique and complex flavor. Also called a “Mother Yeast,” “Leaven,” or “Sourdough Starter.”

Tasting Notes: greek yogurt | tart lemonade | floral

Why Sourdough?

It’s the way bread has always been made… all you need is flour, water, salt, and time.

A long fermentation allows enzymes in the dough to break down gluten strands, making the bread easier to digest.

The cultures in a starter produce lactic and acetic acids during fermentation. These acids give the bread its unique sour flavor, and act as a natural preservative to increase shelf life.