John's bread blog updated...
John Andrews
http://johnsbread.blogspot.com/. I've been using a 100% poolish
that lives in the refrigerator permanently. Go see what I have
been doing. Keep in mind that the ideas come from this news
group, too. Leave me a comment if I used one of your ideas.
John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee
Dee Randall
"John Andrews" <andr...@chartertn.net> wrote in message
news:23hEk.5802$Mw3....@newsfe13.iad...
I looked at all the links, but I'm unsure of how the polish lives in your
refrigerator if you use it all as an ingredient in your bread.
Do you use it, then make another poolish to put back into the refrigerator,
awaiting your next bread-making session?
Thanks.
Dee Dee
John Andrews
Aha! I make enough so I don't have to use it all at once. And
I refresh it when I use more than half of it.
The poolish is in a large plastic container with a lid. It is
large enough to hold the contents when it triples. To start it
I placed 2 lb of bread flour and 2 lb of water and 1/4 tsp of
instant yeast in the container and stirred until the flour was
all moistened. The it sat on the counter in the kitchen until
it tripled. Then it went into the refrigerator in the back out
of my wife's way.
To use the poolish, use a recipe that calls for a similar
poolish, or calculate a fraction of the flour and water that you
will replace with the poolish in the recipe. Pour this out and
make the bread. Replace the amount that you used with equal
amounts of flour and water. You can add another 1/4 tsp of
yeast if you want. Stir it well to get all the flour moistened,
then sit it on the counter until it warms and becomes active
again. Return it to the refrigerator.
I calculate all my bread recipes using weights (grams, most of
the time) so I can pour directly into my working bowl from the
poolish container with the bowl sitting on my digital scale.
The poolish is wet, like a batter, not a dough and pours easily.
I have the tare weight of the container written on the bottom of
the container in permanent marker. When I refresh it I figure
the weight I need to get the whole thing back to four net
pounds, divide by 2 and use that weight for the flour and water.
I am experimenting with this and it has its drawbacks. The
poolish is bread flour (25 lb bag from Sams Club) not specialty
flour. It is enriched, bleached, and contains malted barley and
ascorbic acid. Some breads need lower protein content to be
more tender.
Hey, it's fun to play! Next time I bake, I will take some
pictures and post the story with this text.
John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee
Dee Randall
Thanks for your lengthy explanation. I do appreciate it.
I'll try this. Your bread always looks so delicious.
Dee Dee
John Andrews
I made plain white tonight. Took a few pics of the poolish, but
not enough to post intelligently. We will take it to Atlanta
tomorrow for the grandkids while we baby sit for a long week.
John Andrews, Knoxville, Tennessee