WW Poolish Observations
I have been experimenting with poolish. The last one I made with 50% home milled WW White and 50% red wheat. I made a Poolish with buttermilk, water, yeast and let it sit all day. In the evening I made a loaf of raisin walnut bread with it. I can't be sure based on my limited experience but I am forming the following opinions about using a Poolish:
Better feeling and easier to knead dough.
More resilient dough with more oven spring.
Normallly I do not slash my loaves because of fear it will deflate. This time I went for the slash and it actually resulted in increased oven spring.
This evening my wife requested I make cinnamon rolls for an event at her work, so after dinner I madly started throwing together a batch of white WW dough. Without the Poolish I noticed the dough felt what I can only describe as chewing gum. I kept adding water while kneading but it did not help much. I think the Poolish better hydrates the WW flour which improves the dough quality. I wonder if anybody else has experienced this.
Joel
I always use some kind of soaking method when I make bread. Usually a sponge and autolyze, overnight. But sometimes I do make the complete recipe in the evening. I don't knead. I let it rise some and then use a rubber spat to fold the sides over into the center, while it's in the bowl (it's like folding and it works). It depends on what kind of dough I am making, as to how many times I will do this. Usually, I only do it two times and then I put it into the refrigerator. I will check on it before going to bed and if it has risen alot, I will fold it over again. In the morning, I bring it out for an hour and then shape it. I use buttermilk also, in all my recipes. It really makes a difference when using whole grains.