Pizza Preferments: Direct Dough, Poolish, Biga & Sourdough

Direct dough: one mixing stage

Direct dough combines the recipe in one stage. It can still use a longer fermentation schedule. A preferment is optional, not proof of a superior or healthier pizza.

Build a direct recipe · See the complete workflow

Poolish: a liquid commercial-yeast preferment

Poolish commonly uses equal flour and water. Allocation means the share of all recipe flour placed in it. Its water must be subtracted from the final addition.

Calculate flour allocation · Poolish tool

Biga: separate flour share and hydration

A stiff Biga has its own water ratio, independent of how much recipe flour it contains. Incorporating a stiff mature preferment is a different mixing workflow from stirring in a liquid one.

Understand the two percentages · Biga tool

Starter and levain: mass includes flour and water

The starter dose and its hydration establish how much flour and water it brings. Starter maturity is a separate process question; there is no fixed commercial-yeast equivalent.

Starter accounting · Sourdough tool

Choose by workflow, then compare

Keep final hydration and flour weight constant when comparing methods. Record maturity and final handling. Preferments do not inherently set the pizza’s baking temperature; use the style and oven context.

A worked Poolish/Biga comparison · Schedule cold stages