Tag Archives: poolish

Where do I start?!?  This was truly a labour of love.  First let’s talk abut the poolish.  Poolish, by the way, is the type of starter used in this recipe.  It was named for the Polish immigrants who brought this pre-ferment to France in the mid nineteenth century. This was made the previous day.  So two things that I didn’t like about this recipe:  1) the time it took to make, and 2) the size of the loaf it made.

It took me the better part of the afternoon to make this recipe.  The dough was difficult to handle due to the high ratio of water.  It was sticky and viscous.  The most annoying part of the process was the hour and half of folding before the hour rest, then the makeup followed by a two hour proof.  Whew!  For the topping I used some tepenade I had made a few days ago though I’m sure whole olives would have made for a better presentation.

As for the size…holy buckets, it’s HUGE!  It filled the entire pan and rose about 2 1/2 inches; slightly unwieldy and unless cut before serving, would fill your table.  I would suggest making it in two pans.

All said and done, the texture was like silk with large holes and a distinctive taste contributed by the poolish.  Simply delicious but I wonder if it would have been so delicious if it took me 3 hrs instead of 8!  Don’t worry, I’ll make it again.