SOURDOUGH OR FRESH YEAST

The choice between the two ingredients – Sourdough or Yeast – is the first choice.

Using Sourdough requires appropriate knowledge of this ingredient and a longer production process. Still, you will get a much more digestible product with excellent flavors and a longer shelf-life.

Fresh or dry Yeast allows you to shorten the process, and if used in the correct quantity, it also gives a good result. The secret of having an excellent yeast-leavened product is to use small quantities of Yeast per kilogram of flour and allow long proofing times at low temperatures. In this article, I will explain how much yeast to use better.

Another difference between the 2 ingredients is the alveoli in the baked product: products prepared with Sourdough will have more irregular alveoli and are more stable during baking, making the product softer and lighter. On the contrary, fresh yeast produces smaller and more regular alveoli. Moreover, they tend to be very delicate. For this reason, if you try to handle a yeast-leavened product during fermentation, it will tend to deflate!

Moreover, alveolation depends on yeast type and the quantity of water used in the recipe (like bread rich in water, such as a baguette). Also, the type of flour plays a role. Flour with a good protein content and good extensibility will produce a more elastic gluten mesh, which can better support the development of alveoli.

YEAST, PREFERMENTS, AND SOURDOUGH

There are two main types of processing for preparing leavened products:

• The Direct Technique (or single dough) kneads all the ingredients simultaneously. Once ready, the dough will rest to start the fermentation before being baked.
• The Indirect Method (or double doughs), instead, has two distinct phases. First, we make the first dough, and once it is well ripped (after about 12 hours), we continue the process by adding all the other ingredients of the recipe. However, the first dough’s fermentation time can vary according to the type of dough, the temperature, and the quantity of yeast.

The Biga (preferment): It is a stiff dough made of water, flour, and Fresh Yeast (1% of the weight of flour), which is generally fermented between 12 and 24 hours at 19°C (6°6F). The proportion between water and flour is about 0,45:1 (450gr of water for 1kg). It is essential to stress that when we use the Biga in a recipe, we always need to add (fresh or dry) Yeast, as the Biga alone is not “strong” enough to ferment the dough. This technique’s typical use is bread and pizza preparation with a proportion of at least 40-50% of flour’s weight. To learn more about Biga and Poolish and how much Biga can be used in recipes,

Poolish: It is obtained by mixing water and flour in a ratio of 1:1 and Yeast in a variable quantity from 0.1% to 2.5% of the flour’s weight. Yeast’s quantity depends on the fermentation time:

•  0.1% needs 16 hours of fermentation
• 0.5% needs 8 hours of fermentation
• 1.5% needs 3 hours of fermentation
• 2.5% needs 2 hours of fermentation 

I suggest using a poolish prepared with low Yeast to improve the finished product’s digestibility and fragrance. 

Moreover, the ideal quantity of Poolish is up to 20-25% of the flour’s weight. In this article, I will explain how to prepare Poolish correctly.

Sourdough: In this case, a good fermentation of the first dough prepared with flour, Yeast, liquids (water and/or eggs), and fat takes about 10-12h at 24-26°C (75°F – 78°F). 

During this process, yeasts develop considerably, and sugars are partially digested. According to the sugar and fat quantity in the recipe, the average quantity of sourdough for the first dough varies from 200 to 450 grams per kilogram of flour. To further discover sourdough, I invite you to read my article on how much sourdough to use for 1kg of flour.