Pâte Fermentée
Recipe Type: Pre-Ferment for Bread
Author:
You can use this on the same day as you make it, if you ferment it for two hours at room temperature rather than refrigerating it. I prefer to give it the overnight treatment, as it seems to bring out more flavor.
Ingredients
- 5 ounces of unbleached all-purpose flour
- 5 ounces of unbleached bread flour
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of instant yeast
- 6 – 7 ounces of room temperature water
Instructions
- Stir together the flours and the salt in a large bowl
- Put the yeast, together with 6 ounces of room temperature water, into the bowl of an electric mixer.
- Let the yeast become active (tiny bubbles will appear on the surface of the water).
- Start the mixer (with paddle attachment) on slow and gradually add the flour and mix until everything comes together in a pliable – not sticky – dough. About 1 minute
- Adjust flour as necessary. Err on the pliable rather than dry side as water is much harder to incorporate when the dough has already coalesced.
- Sprinkle flour on your surface and tip the dough out and knead for another 3 – 4 minutes. If you have a dough hook for your mixer then use that instead.
- Place the ball of dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with sedan wrap. Let ferment at room temperature until it grows to about 1 1/2 times its original size.
- Take the ball of dough out of the bowl and lightly degas it. Place it back, re-cover then put in the fridge for anything up to three days.