Pre ferments make better bread!

A pre ferment is essentially anything used on the way to building a sourdough or other type of bread, which assists the leavening process. For example, a 'sponge' made of flour, yeast and water is a type of pre ferment. In this article, I'm going to walk through the basic sponge method, and show the best ways to incorporate sourdough into the spongemaking process.

Pre Ferments also are like natural bread improvers - apart from increasing the activity of the yeast, they serve to elasticise the gluten, which gives you a better rise.