This online lexicon of bread making is designed to especially give the sourdough bread bakers a common language and vocabulary when we are talking sourdough and its many processes.

A

Activation: The process of bringing dormant refrigerated or dehydrated starter into an active state through feeding equal weights of flour and water and holding at room temperature for 6-8 hours. Activate rye flour starter with rye and a wheat sourdough starter with wheat, etc.

Active: This term is used when a starter (preferment) is ready to use; it is frothy, filled with bubbles and floats in water.

Autolyse: The resting period between the initial mixing of wet ingredients and flour, but before the addition of the salt. Letting the starter work on the dough before adding the salt will help produce a better rise and a more complex flavor in the finished loaf.

B

Baking: place bread in a preheated oven, and bake until the internal temperature is 200°F; when possible let the bread set in the oven as it cools down. 

Bench-Rest: After the dough is fully fermented it is ready to pre-shape (see shaping below). This could be general shaping then it should sit 20–30 minutes to allow the dough to relax. If the dough is not relaxed adequately it will resist the final shaping and may even tear.

Biga: Italian term for a drier active start (see Preferment below) usually at 60% hydration. This thick start gives your bread a kick-start and speeds up fermentation but still delivers the tangy goodness of sourdough. Sometimes the French word poolish (see below) is used interchangeably for starter or pre-ferment, but a poolish is usually made at 100% hydration like a standard sourdough start. 

Boule: French for the word “ball,”and is a traditional bread shape in France resembling a squashed ball. “A boule can be made using any type of flour and can be leavened with commercial yeast, chemical leavening, or even wild yeast sourdough.” Wikipedia

Bulk Ferment: The first fermentation period for bread sometimes listed as proofing, rising, or proving. Bulk fermentation is a longer period of time (4–12 hours) and takes place at room temperature (unless otherwise noted in the recipe [eg. a cold ferment is sometimes used to increase the sourness of the taste]).

C

Chef is the part of the starter that is used to leaven a loaf.

Crumb refers to a loaf’s internal texture, which is a result of both moisture and gas bubbles in the loaf.

D

Dough is a reference to a mixture of a preferment, water, flour and salt that is stiff enough to be kneaded and worked by hand and then baked into bread. 

E

Elasticity is dependent on the amount of gluten (protein) in the flour and allows the dough to hold its shape after the fermentation period. It is critical to the final shaping of bread dough and will be diminished if over-proofed, resulting in a denser loaf that could not trap gases.

F

Feeding a start equal weights of flour and water daily keeps it active if kept at room temperature. Refrigerated starter only needs feeding once a week.

Fermentation: is the actual process of using naturally occurring lactobacilli and wild yeast to produce sourdough. Both lactic acid and alcoholic fermentation occur during the process, which leaves the bread its distinct tangy flavor.

Flour is made by grinding cereal grains into powder and is the main ingredient of bread. 

“In many recipes, all-purpose flour is generally meant when the word ‘flour’ is used. Bread flour and various gluten-free flours are also used in sourdough baking but are generally specified as such in the recipe.”— Flour, Cultures for Health

” Pastry flour [is] generally lower in protein content than all-purpose or bread flour. This type of flour produces a tender crumb and is more suited for pastries like pie crusts, pancakes, muffins, and cookies than high-elasticity bread loaves.” Pastery Flour, Cultures for Health

Fresh Starter is an active sourdough start that has been fed and given four or more hours to be frothy, filled with bubbles. It is ready to use when it floats in water.

G

Gluten a collective term for the proteins glutenin and gliadin found in grains as wheat, einkorn, rye, barley and spelt. These proteins give bread their elasticity, which traps gases during bread fermentation that leaves the loaf light and filled with bubbles.

H

Hooch is a dark naturally occurring alcohol that collects in a layer above the flour and water. While it is harmless, it may affect the flavor of your start, so pour it off and then feed the starter.

Hydration is calculated by dividing the weight of the water by the weight of the flour. Some recipes call for a specific hydration ratio.

K

Kneading: After the dough is mixed and rested for the Autolyse period, it is worked by pressing, folding, and stretching until the dough is elastic enough to trap gas bubbles as the bread rises. (see Windowpane Test) 

L

Lactobacilli are the bacteria found in many fermented foods. Often referred to as lactic acid bacteria (LAB) it gives sourdough bread their uniquely tangy flavor. During the fermentation process LAB produces carbon dioxide which helps to make the bread rise.

Levain: is a French term pointing to sourdough when it is used as a leavening agent made from a mother culture. It is used to boost the activity of the starter by feeding it a larger quantity of flour and water. (Along the US West Coast, a levain is the part of the starter that is added to the dough [see Chef above]).

Long Fermentation for 18–24 hours in a cooler environment is used to give the bread a stronger flavor. This can be done even longer with refrigeration for tangier bread and begins with a very small quantity of starter.

M/N

Maintaining Starter requires regular feeding to maintain a healthy start. Together with the wild yeast, bacteria, and other microorganisms, starters need feedings and correct temperatures to stay healthy and alive.

Mixing: use the smallest amount of flour called for in a recipe; gauge the hydration level of the dough, gradually adding flour depending on the humidity on that particular day. A moister dough is always preferable to a dry one and should just come together, pulling cleanly from the bowl but still moist.

Mother Sponge (Mother Culture) is another term for preferment or starter.

O

Old Dough: a piece of raw dough from the last loaf used to leaven the next loaf; used most often when making bread daily.

Oven Spring is the final burst of dough expansion when put into a hot oven; expansion continues until the internal temperature of the dough reaches 140°F which is when the yeast dies. 

P/Q

Poolish: is a starter with 100% hydration. It is a wet start that is French for preferment (see below); Polish immigrants supposedly introduced the process of pre-fermentation to the French and thus the name. 

Perfect 3: Sourdough only needs 3 perfect ingredients, flour, water, and salt. These are combined with a starter, which is just flour and water, to make the perfect three sourdough bread.

Preferment: a mixture of flour, liquid, and a leavening agent (like yeast or sourdough starter), combined before making bread dough. During preferment, the flour is hydrated, and fermentation reactions begin. These reactions give the dough a head start and make it easier to knead, all while adding flavor to the bread.

“Preferments can be sorted into two main categories.

1. Preferments made with commercial yeast, which are mixed about a day before you mix the dough and used entirely.
2. Preferments that contain wild yeasts and bacteria, which are maintained and then increased when needed for bread, and used over and over.

The second type of preferment is what we’ll refer to as sourdough starter.”—Emily Buehler, “What’s the Difference Between Levain and Starter?,”Kitchn, Oct 4, 2017

Primary Levain is the part of the starter that is used to leaven a loaf.

Proofing is the period of time it takes the sourdough culture to leaven the bread. Unlike baker’s yeast, a second proofing is not needed, but this proofing may take 6–12 hours and often occurs after the final shaping.

R

Resting is a step in dough preparation that occurs after kneading, which allows the gluten to “relax” before the final shaping. This may also refer to a time of fermentation or an autolyze step where the dough is left covered, at room temperature.

S

Scoring/Slashing helps make Oven Spring more uniform and prevents cracking or bulging by cutting the bread with a very sharp razor or knife just prior to baking. 

Shaping dough for baking, you start at the top of a bench rested dough. Stretch and fold the dough toward the center. Then roll the dough like a jelly roll, turn and repeat several times until the dough tension naturally draws it into a ball. Then using a dough blade or your hands, turn the dough in a flat circle until it shapes into a ball. Flip the dough over letting it rest for 5 to 10 minutes while lining an 8-inch (20-cm) bowl with a towel and dust with flour. Finally, with floured hands, cup the dough drawing it toward you in a circular motion to tighten the shape.

Short Fermentation, 3-8 hours produces a milder flavor and works best in a warmer setting with a larger quantity of starter.

Soakers are used to draw out more flavor from grains by soaking them in a liquid. Whole grains may be soaked, but most often coarsely milled grains are soaked overnight to hydrate them. Soakers are simple to make by combining grain or flour with milk, water, yogurt, buttermilk, nut milk, juice, or other liquids. Sometimes a bit of salt is added, but no leavening.

“The objective is to hydrate the grains in advance in order to precondition and soften them, and to activate amylase enzyme activity without initiating the leavening transformations that occur during fermentation. This action allows some of the sugar threads to break out of the starch without being converted to carbon dioxide and alcohol.

Peter Reinhart in Whole Grain Breads

Sourdough a type of bread made through fermentation of the dough from natural leavening agents known as a starter. Starters contain naturally occurring wild yeasts and lactobacilli (LAB).

Both give off CO₂ which makes the bread rise. And LAB produces lactic acid that gives the bread a tangy flavor that is slightly sour. Thus this bread is named sourdough.

Sponge is the active part of the pre-ferment that is used to leaven a loaf and is most often made the day prior to mixing in other ingredients. It can include the starter, all the liquid(s), and all the flour or it may include less of each depending on the taste the baker desires.

Starter is a mix of water, wild yeast, and bacteria used as a leavening agent in bread; it is a common term used in reference to pre-ferments found on the West Coast of the USA, which came from the lexicon of miners and pioneers in the Western movement.

Storage Leaven the part of the preferment you keep for its next use.

Stretch-and-Fold techniques are used to develop gluten, rather than through traditional kneading. Used in high hydration doughs, this is done periodically during bulk fermentation. To stretch and fold take a corner of the dough in the bowl with wet hands, pull the dough up and then fold it upon itself, rotate the dough, and repeat. This should develop the gluten making a smooth, elastic dough.

T

Tensioning dough is the process of folding or preshaping the dough into itself to give it extra strength and structure. There are a variety of techniques, the most simple is to pull the dough long and wide making a triangle. Fold each point into each the center, then roll the dough, jelly-roll style, one, two, three, four times. This tightens the dough up nicely and allows the baker to easily form a boulle or bâtard (football shape). 

W/Y

Wild Yeast works symbiotically with Lactobacilli (LAB) during the fermentation process producing Carbon Dioxide gas bubbles that are trapped in the gluten matrix of the dough, causing the bread to rise. 

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