Glossary
Sourdough people use a lot of jargon. None of it is complicated once translated.
Starter
The jar of flour and water you keep alive and feed. Also called a culture, a mother, or a chef.
Levain
A portion of starter built up specially for one bake, often with different flour or a different ratio. In practice, for home baking, you can treat "levain" and "active starter" as the same thing.
Discard
The starter you remove before feeding. Not rubbish - it is unleavened but perfectly edible, and makes excellent pancakes and crackers.
Hooch
The dark liquid that collects on a hungry starter. Alcohol produced by the yeast. Pour it off or stir it in, then feed.
Hydration
Water as a percentage of flour weight. Equal weights of each is 100% hydration, which is the standard for a starter. Bread doughs are usually 65-80%.
Baker's percentage
A way of writing recipes where flour is always 100% and everything else is expressed relative to it. 70% water with 500 g flour means 350 g water. It makes scaling a recipe up or down trivial.
Autolyse
Mixing just flour and water and letting it rest before adding starter and salt. It lets the flour hydrate fully and makes the dough easier to handle. The loaf on this site does not use one - everything goes in together, then rests - but you will see it in plenty of other recipes.
Bulk ferment
The first long rise, with all the dough in one mass, after mixing and before shaping. This is where most of the flavour and structure develops.
Stretch and fold
Instead of kneading, you lift one side of the dough, stretch it up and fold it over, then rotate and repeat. Done a few times during the bulk ferment, it builds strength gently.
Shaping
Forming the dough into a tight ball or oval so it has surface tension and holds its shape in the oven rather than spreading out.
Banneton
A basket, usually cane, that supports the shaped dough during its final rise. A bowl lined with a floured tea towel does exactly the same job.
Proof / final proof
The last rise after shaping, before baking.
Retard
Slowing fermentation down by putting the dough in the fridge, usually overnight. It deepens flavour and makes the timing fit around real life.
Score
The cut you slash into the top of the loaf just before baking, so it expands in a controlled direction instead of bursting at a random seam.
Oven spring
The dramatic final rise in the first ten minutes of baking, as the gas in the dough expands in the heat.
Crumb
The inside of the loaf. An open crumb has large irregular holes, a tight crumb is fine and even. Neither is better, they just suit different purposes.
Peak
The moment your starter has risen as far as it will go and is about to start sinking. This is when it is strongest and when you should use it.
Lactic acid and acetic acid
The two acids the bacteria in your starter produce. Lactic acid drops the pH, which is what keeps unwanted microbes out. Acetic acid is the sharp, vinegary one - more of it means a more sour starter. Cooler, wetter and more frequently fed starters lean lactic and mild; warmer, stiffer and hungrier ones lean acetic and tangy.
Bench rest
Letting shaped or pre-shaped dough sit on the counter - the "bench" - so the gluten relaxes and the dough becomes workable again.
Coil fold
A gentler alternative to the stretch and fold. Lift the dough from underneath in the middle, let the ends hang, and let it fold under itself as you lower it. Good for wet dough you do not want to knock the gas out of.
Lamination
Stretching the whole dough out into a thin sheet on a wet counter, then folding it back up. Mostly used to distribute add-ins evenly, and worth doing for olives or cheese.
Poke test
Press a floured finger gently into proofing dough. Springs straight back - it needs longer. Fills in slowly and not quite completely - ready. Stays dented - over-proofed, bake it now.
Windowpane test
Stretch a small piece of dough slowly between your fingers. If it thins out enough to see light through without tearing, the gluten is developed.
Elasticity and extensibility
Two opposite properties. Elastic dough pulls back when you stretch it; extensible dough keeps stretching. You want enough of both - all elasticity and it fights you, all extensibility and it will not hold a shape.
Ear
The raised flap of crust that lifts along a score during baking. Sought after, photogenic, and completely irrelevant to how the bread tastes.
Blisters
The small bubbles on the crust of a well-made loaf. Usually a sign of a long cold proof.
Boule and bâtard
A boule is a round loaf, a bâtard an elongated oval. The bâtard gives you better-shaped slices for sandwiches and toast; the boule is easier to shape.
Surface tension
The taut skin you build during shaping. It is what makes a loaf rise upwards in the oven rather than spreading out sideways.
Inclusions
Anything folded into the dough that is not flour, water, salt or starter - olives, cheese, chocolate, seeds. See add-ins.