Pâte fermentée
A preferment made from held-back, already-salted dough from a previous batch, carrying flavour forward between bakes.
- Flour prefermented
- 15-30%
- Hydration
- 60-65%
- Fermentation time
- 8-24h
- Temperature
- 4-20C
Contribution
Flavour: Rounded, bread-like flavour since it already contains salt and has undergone full fermentation
Strength: Good structural contribution given it is already a fully developed dough
Extensibility: Moderate; behaves like a more flavourful version of the main dough itself
Scheduling advantages
- A practical way to carry flavour forward from one bake to the next without a dedicated separate preferment
Risks
- Requires planning ahead to reserve dough from a previous batch