Pâte Fermentée (Old Dough)

This type of pre-ferment is a piece of fully fermented and developed dough that is saved from one batch and added to a new batch the following day. After a dough is mixed and allowed to go through its bulk fermentation, some of it is removed, placed in a container, covered, and refrigerated overnight. The next day, this pre-ferment is added to the final dough after the cleanup stage. This is the only type of preferment that has been mixed into a full gluten development. It adds strength to the dough and imparts an acidic flavor due to its cold storage. Unless the same bread is made every day at home, the pâte fermentée is a difficult preferment to utilize on a regular basis. Bakeries with fixed production schedules can easily take advantage of this pre-ferment.