Meaning & use
poolish
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Meaning
nouncountable or uncountabletechnical
A thin, wet mixture of flour, water, and a little yeast left to ferment before being added to bread dough.
Grammar: Can be countable when referring to a specific batch ('a poolish') or uncountable when referring to the substance in general ('made with poolish').
Patterns
- make a poolish
- add the poolish to the dough
- a poolish made with ...
The baker prepared a poolish the night before to give the bread a deeper flavor.
A poolish is wetter than a biga, so it ferments more quickly.
Let the poolish sit at room temperature until it is bubbly and smells slightly sour.
Word forms
| plural | poolishes |
|---|
Common combinations
- make a poolish
- You should make a poolish at least twelve hours before baking.
- poolish preferment
- This recipe uses a poolish preferment for extra flavor.
- ripe poolish
- The ripe poolish is ready when it domes and starts to collapse.
- poolish-based dough
- Poolish-based dough is common in French bread baking.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pre-ferment
- A broader term for any mixture left to ferment before the main dough; poolish is one specific type.
- sponge
- Similar idea but often thicker and sometimes made without commercial yeast; poolish is always very wet.
Commonly confused: poolish or Polish?
poolish vs Polish
Polish (with a capital P) means relating to Poland; poolish (lowercase) is the baking term.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'poolish' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Poolish is a baking term for a wet pre-ferment. The other options confuse it with 'polish' (to make shiny) or 'Polish' (from Poland).
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “poolish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.