Sourdough Baking Glossary: 24 Terms Explained
The words that show up in sourdough baking specs, reviews and how-to guides, explained without jargon. Open any term for the full explanation and what to look for when buying.
- Autolyse
- A rest period where flour and water sit together, without starter or salt, before the rest of the dough is mixed.
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- Baker's percentage
- A recipe system where every ingredient is a percentage of total flour weight, so flour always represents 100 percent.
- Read more about baker's percentageRelated: Best Kitchen Scales For Baking
- Banneton
- A round or oval proofing basket, often woven rattan, that supports shaped dough and holds its form during the final rise.
- Read more about bannetonRelated: Best Bannetons
- Bench scraper
- A flat, stiff blade of metal or plastic used to lift, divide, and shape sticky dough on the counter without extra flour.
- Read more about bench scraperRelated: Best Bench Scrapers for Bread
- Bulk fermentation
- The first rise of the whole mixed dough, after mixing and before shaping, when most fermentation flavor and strength develops.
- Read more about bulk fermentationRelated: Best Dough Proofing Containers
- Cold retard
- Proofing shaped dough in the refrigerator, usually overnight, to slow fermentation while flavor and strength keep developing.
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- Crumb
- The internal texture of a baked loaf, described by the size, shape and evenness of the holes running through it.
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- Crust
- The outer layer of a baked loaf, shaped by heat, steam, and sugars caramelizing on the surface during baking.
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- Discard
- The portion of starter removed and set aside before a feeding, so the remaining culture is not overwhelmed with unfed flour.
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- Dutch oven baking
- Baking bread inside a preheated, lidded pot so the loaf bakes in its own trapped steam for the first part of the bake.
- Read more about dutch oven bakingRelated: Best Dutch Ovens for Bread
- Ear
- The raised, crisp flap of crust that lifts up along a score line during oven spring, prized as a sign of good technique.
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- Float test
- Dropping a small piece of starter into water to see if it floats, a rough check of whether it is active enough to bake with.
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- Gluten development
- The process of building the stretchy, elastic protein network in dough that traps gas and gives bread its structure.
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- Hooch
- A layer of dark, alcoholic liquid that forms on top of a starter when it has gone a long time without fresh flour.
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- Hydration
- Water weight expressed as a percentage of flour weight in a recipe, used to describe how wet or stiff a sourdough dough is.
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- Lame
- A razor blade mounted on a handle, used to make quick, precise cuts in dough just before it goes into the oven.
- Read more about lameRelated: Best Bread Lames
- Levain
- A separate, freshly built portion of starter mixed to a size and ripeness matched to one specific bake, not fed from the main jar.
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- Oven spring
- The rapid rise a loaf gets in the first several minutes of baking, driven by trapped steam and rapidly expanding gas.
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- Poke test
- A quick check where a floured finger presses into proofed dough to judge whether, by how the dent behaves, it is ready to bake.
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- Preferment
- Any portion of dough, such as a levain, that is fermented separately ahead of time and then mixed into the final dough.
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- Shaping
- The step where proofed dough is gently formed into a tight, even shape, building surface tension before its final rise.
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- Starter
- A live culture of flour, water, wild yeast and bacteria that you feed regularly and use to leaven sourdough bread without commercial yeast.
- Read more about starterRelated: Best Sourdough Starter Jars
- Stretch and fold
- A hands-on technique of lifting and folding dough over itself during bulk fermentation to build strength instead of kneading.
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- Windowpane test
- Stretching a small piece of dough thin enough to see light through it, a check on whether gluten development is far enough along.
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