Drawn to its outside size
For temperature control around a starter jar
Brod & Taylor Sourdough HomeA small heating-and-cooling chamber for a jar, rather than a full dough bowl.
41 to 122°F, heats and cools8 × 10 in outside
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Starter, levain, poolish and biga: what is the difference?
A starter is the culture you keep and feed. A levain is a portion of it fed and built for one specific dough. Poolish and biga are made with commercial yeast instead: poolish is wet (100% hydration), biga is stiff (about 50 to 60%). All of them are preferments: flour and water fermented before the main dough.
Starter: the ongoing culture. Levain: starter built for this dough. Poolish: wet yeasted preferment, nutty and extensible. Biga: stiff yeasted preferment, strength and flavour, used in Italian breads.
The preferments compared
Times are typical at room temperature; check the recipe. Count each preferment's flour and water in the dough's totals with the baker's percentage calculator.
| Leavening | Hydration | Typical time | Flavour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter (kept) | Wild yeast and bacteria | Usually 100%, or 50 to 60% stiff | Fed daily or weekly | Sour |
| Levain | Wild yeast and bacteria | As the recipe says | 4 to 12 h | Sour, as built |
| Poolish | Pinch of commercial yeast | 100% | 12 to 16 h | Nutty, mild |
| Biga | Pinch of commercial yeast | 50 to 60% | 12 to 16 h | Mildly tangy, wheaty |
| Pâte fermentée | Commercial yeast | As the dough | Leftover dough | Rounded |
Levain in practice
When a recipe says "150 g levain", it means a fresh build from your starter, timed to peak when you mix. Some bakers simply use their starter at peak as the levain. Build it with the feeding calculator and use it per the ready signs.
Why bakers use preferments
A preferment gives the yeast and bacteria a head start, building flavour, acidity and strength before the main mix. That is why a poolish baguette tastes fuller than a straight dough, and why sourdough keeps longer.
Questions bakers ask
Is levain the same as sourdough starter?
A levain is made from the starter: it is the portion fed and built for one dough. Many recipes use the words loosely.
Can I use poolish instead of starter?
You can make bread with either, but poolish uses commercial yeast and will not taste like sourdough.
Equipment for this job
Keep what you own when it does the job. These are the other exact models we profile.
Drawn to its outside size
OXO Good Grips 11 lb Stainless Steel Food Scale
For seeing the display past a wide bowl
OXO Good Grips 11 lb Stainless Steel Food ScaleA pull-out display helps keep the reading visible under larger containers.
11 lb (5.0 kg), reads in 1 g steps