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Poolish

What is Poolish?

Poolish is one of the first pre-ferments made using commercial yeast. Bakers in Poland are credited with inventing this pre-fermentation at the end of the 19th century. It is a fluid pre-ferment made from strong flour, water and yeast. The poolish is made by mixing water and flour in a ratio of 1:1, and there is also a small percentage of yeast added to the mixture. The poolish matures at room temperature or in the fridge. The percentage of yeast varies according to the number of hours and temperature at which the poolish is being matured. 

 

Pre-ferments such as poolish and biga are traditional creations of the breadmaking world and not of the pizza world. Over time, these starters have been adopted for use in making pizza dough.

It gives the dough a more pronounced and complex flavor without having to ferment for a long time and It improves the oven spring.

 

When making a pizza with poolish, we speak of an indirect method, which means that the mixing phase of the ingredients is divided into two parts.

 

The first part:

Pre-ferment (poolish), a mix of water, strong flour, and yeast. 

 

The second part is: 

Final dough, which consists of the mature poolish and other ingredients, such as flour, salt, malt, water and additional yeast.



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Ingredients

For 7 dough balls of ± 250g each

 

Poolish

700g strong flour
700g water
1g fresh yeast

 

Final dough

Mature poolish
300g medium strong flour
1g fresh yeast
25g salt

 

 

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How to make Poolish

Step 1

Use a measuring cup or a deep container and add the flour to it.

 

Step 2

Dissolve the yeast in water and add to flour, use a spoon to stir this together into a thick batter.

 

Step 3

Cover with cling film and place at room temperature (59°F-68°F/15°C-20°C) until doubled or ideally tripled in size which will take anywhere between 12-18 hours. Or keep the poolish for 1 hour at room temperature, before putting it in the fridge for 24 hours at 4-6°C.

 

A very strong flour (max 300W) is best, as it can develop a lot of gluten when in contact with liquids. To calculate the ideal final temperature of the poolish, use the following formula: 

70 – (T°C flour + T°C ambient temperature) = T°C water


70 is a fixed value. The sum of the ambient temperature and the flour temperature is subtracted from this value. If, for example, your ambient temperature is 23°C and that of the flour is 21°C, then the calculation is this: 70 – (23 + 21) = 26°C. The water in the poolish should be 26°C. 


The poolish is fully matured/ready to use when:

+  It is doubled or more in size (usually after 12-18 hours)

+  When it has numerous bubbles and the pre-ferment starts to collapse.

+  It smells yeasty and acidic almost like yogurt.

 

 

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Final dough

Hand kneading

 

Step 1

Crumble the yeast with your fingers and add it to a bowl together with flour and give this a mix. 


Step 2

Remove the poolish from the fridge and add it to the flour. Knead this for 5 minutes, aiming to thoroughly mix the dry flour with the poolish as much as possible. Add salt and continue to knead for a few minutes. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes.

 

Step 3
Place the dough on your work surface and knead again for a few minutes. As you knead, the dough will gradually become smoother and no longer look lumpy and rough.
Once the dough is smooth, lightly grease your work surface with some oil and place your dough on it. Do a few folds and slaps and place the dough in a greased, deep container. After 15 minutes, pop the container into the fridge and leave it to ferment for 4-5 hours. 

 

Step 4

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape it into 7 pizza balls, each weighing about 250g. Place the pizza balls in a dough crate or in individual greased containers and allow them to continue to rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours.



Machine mixing


Step 1 

Remove the poolish from the fridge and add it to a large mixing bowl.

 

Step 2

Crumble the yeast with your fingers and add it to the mixing bowl together with roughly half of the flour.

 

Step 3

Set your machine to its lowest setting and knead for a few minutes. Gradually add more flour over a period of about 5 minutes 


Step 4

Add salt, and increase the speed of the machine. Continue to knead for a few minutes or until the dough looks smooth. 

 

Step 5

Once the dough is smooth, lightly grease your work surface with some oil and place your dough on it. Do a few folds and slaps and place the dough in a greased, deep container. After 15 minutes, pop the container into the fridge and leave it to ferment for 4-5 hours.

Step 6

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape it into 7 pizza balls, each weighing about 250g.

 

Step 7

Place the pizza balls in a dough container or in individual greased containers and allow them to continue to rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours.

 



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Stretching and topping

Carefully lift a dough ball out of the container (use a spatula if necessary) and lay it on some flour or fine semolina. Sprinkle some extra flour or semolina on top of the dough ball and gently press with closed fingertips the air from the middle of the pizza to the upper side of the dough ball. Flip the dough over and push the other part of the dough up, forming a crust. Return the dough ball to its original position and take the dough carefully without touching the crust onto your knuckles. Now, use your knuckles and move them one by one in a circular motion until you have a pizza base of about 25cm (10’’).

Spread 100g of freshly crushed San Marzano tomatoes and some fresh basil on top of your pizza. Sprinkle some parmesan or pecorino cheese on top and add a handful of fresh mozzarella. Dust your pizza peel lightly with flour and use two hands to slide the pizza onto your pizza shovel. To restore the round shape of the pizza, reach with your fingers under the crust of the pizza to stretch it slightly. 

 

Slide the pizza into the oven and bake at 380-400°C (716°F-750°F).
Take the pizza out of the oven after approx. 3 minutes. Drizzle some of your favorite extra virgin olive oil on top of the pizza. Cut the pizza with a pair of scissors instead of a pizza cutter. This way you keep the crust of the pizza intact. 

Now serve and enjoy!



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