Sourdough language
Baking has a lot of odd words in it. Here is every term this app uses, in plain English. You never need to learn them to use the app — this is just here when you want it.
Starter
Also called: levain, mother
A jar of flour and water that has gone slightly sour and is full of live yeast and bacteria. It is what makes the bread rise instead of shop yeast.
Ripe starter
Starter that is at its most active — risen, domed and bubbly, usually a few hours after you feed it. This is when you use it.
Discard
The older starter you would normally throw away when you feed the jar. It still has plenty of flavour, so it can go into pancakes, crackers or scones.
Hydration
How wet the dough is, written as the water weight compared with the flour weight. 500g flour and 375g water is 75% hydration. Wetter dough gives a more open crumb but is harder to handle.
Baker's percentages
A way of writing a recipe where the flour is always 100% and everything else is measured against it. It means you can scale a recipe to any size without redoing the maths.
Autolyse
Mixing just the flour and most of the water and leaving it to sit — often an hour — before adding the salt. The flour drinks up the water and the dough becomes stretchy on its own.
Bassinage
Holding back some of the water and adding it later, once the dough has come together. It lets you get a wetter dough without it turning into soup.
Bulk fermentation
Also called: bulk, first rise
The long rise after mixing, while the dough is still one big piece. This is where the flavour and most of the rise happen.
Stretch and fold
Lifting one side of the dough, stretching it up and folding it over itself, then turning the bowl and repeating. It builds strength without kneading.
Coil fold
A gentler version of the same thing: lift the middle of the dough with wet hands and let the ends tuck under themselves.
Lamination
Stretching the dough out thin on the worktop and folding it back up. Useful for adding seeds or fruit evenly, and for building strength.
Shaping
Pulling the dough into a tight ball or log so it holds its shape and rises upwards rather than spreading.
Bench rest
A short 20-minute rest after a first light shaping, so the dough relaxes enough to shape properly.
Banneton
The round or oval cane basket the shaped dough proves in. It supports the loaf and leaves the ring pattern on the crust.
Stitching
Pinching the dough from side to side across the top once it is in the basket, to tighten it a little more.
Final proof
Also called: second rise
The last rise, after shaping, before the loaf goes in the oven.
Cold retard
Also called: cold proof
Putting the shaped loaf in the fridge overnight. It slows the rise right down, deepens the flavour and makes the loaf easier to handle and score in the morning.
Target dough temperature
Also called: DDT, desired dough temperature
The temperature you want the dough to be at once it is mixed, usually somewhere around 24-26°C. You get there by adjusting how warm the mixing water is. Warmer dough ferments faster.
Percentage rise
How much bigger the dough has got during bulk. A 50% rise means it is half again as big as when you started. It is a more reliable guide than the clock.
Small sample jar
Also called: aliquot jar
A little straight-sided jar with a spoonful of your dough in it, sitting next to the bowl. Because the sides are straight you can see the rise clearly and mark it with an elastic band.
Poke test
Press a floured finger gently into the dough. If the dent springs back slowly and only part way, it is ready. Straight back means it needs longer; staying put means it has gone too far.
Windowpane test
Stretch a small piece of dough between your fingers. If it goes thin enough to see light through without tearing, the gluten is well developed.
Under-fermented
The dough did not rise enough. The loaf comes out dense with a tight, gummy crumb and little sour flavour.
Over-fermented
The dough rose too far and lost its strength. It spreads out flat, feels slack and sticky, and the crumb can be uneven or pasty.
Crumb
The inside of the loaf — the holes, the texture and the colour.
Open crumb
A crumb with lots of large, irregular holes. Prized in sourdough, but not better for everything — toast and sandwiches like it tighter.
Oven spring
The burst of rise in the first ten minutes of baking, before the crust sets.
Scoring
Cutting the top of the loaf just before it goes in the oven, so it opens where you want rather than splitting at random.
Dutch oven
Also called: combo cooker, casserole
A heavy lidded pot preheated in the oven. The lid traps steam for the first half of the bake, which gives a thin, crisp, glossy crust.
Steam
Moisture in the oven for the first part of the bake. It keeps the crust soft long enough for the loaf to rise fully.
Fan oven
Also called: convection
An oven with a fan that circulates the heat. It bakes hotter and faster than a conventional oven, so recipes written for a conventional oven usually need about 20°C knocking off.
Pullman tin
A tall, straight-sided loaf tin, usually with a lid, that gives square sandwich slices.
Wholemeal and heritage flours
Flours with more of the grain left in, or older grain varieties. They drink more water, ferment faster and give a fuller flavour with a slightly tighter crumb.