Sourdough & Preferments
Sourdough & Preferments
Naturally leavened and preferment-built doughs — wild-yeast cultures, biga, poolish and sponges, across styles.
Recipes · 4
Ischia Biga Pizza Dough
John Stephenson's pizza built on a stiff Ischia-culture biga, using 10% biga against the flour at about 62% hydration with 2.5% salt. A long flour-and-water autolyse, a couple of hours of bulk fermentation, and a 24-72 hour cold retard build structure and flavor; salt goes in late in the mix.
Five-Fold Ischia Sourdough Pizza
John (fazzari)'s everyday dough built on a mature Ischia culture used as the preferment, at 62% hydration with about 17% of the flour prefermented. A no-knead, five-stretch-and-fold mix followed by several days of cold fermentation builds strength and flavor without any reballing.
Camaldoli Sourdough Pizza with Caputo 00
Bill (SFNM)'s naturally-leavened Neapolitan-style dough built on the Camaldoli culture, at about 62% hydration with roughly 9% culture against the flour and no commercial yeast. A long room-temperature bulk rise, a short cold retard, and a final ball proof give a flavorful, supple crust.
Crisceto Neapolitan Naturally-Leavened Dough
Marco Parente's canonical Naples method for pizza raised on a wild-yeast culture ("crisceto") instead of commercial yeast, using just 1-5% culture against the water at roughly 63% hydration. The culture is first built into a refreshed mother dough, then a long room-temperature rise develops a deep, non-yeasty flavor.