Master Bread Dough

The secret behind many great breads is something called a preferment, a portion of the dough that ferments separately from (and for more time than) the rest of the ingredients. A preferment increases the strength of your dough (improving its final crumb structure) and contributes to aroma and flavor. In baker Bryan Ford’s cookbook New World Sourdough, the preferment is a sourdough starter; in this recipe, however, his preferment is the lower-maintenance poolish—a mixture of flour, water, and active dry yeast that grows overnight. Mix the poolish with more flour, water, and yeast as well as a touch of olive oil, sugar, and salt, and you get a resilient, flavorful dough that can be used in a nearly infinite number of ways. Ford encourages all bakers, especially beginners, to use a scale, and this is an instance when you really do need one as the volume of 100 grams of poolish will vary based on how much it grows. The master dough can also be scaled up or down as desired. Use this dough to make Bryan's Simple Sandwich Loaf, Sesame Burger Buns, Pull-Apart Breadsticks, and Detroit-Style Pan Pizza.