Pâte Fermentée (Old Dough)

A lump of frozen pâte fermentée out from the frozen for its photo shoot 

Ever since I came back from my holiday last year, I never managed to kickstart a new batch of sourdough starter. At least 5 batches died, costing a good 30 days and much waste of rye flour.

In comes pâte fermentée , or called old dough ( 老面 ) by Chinese bloggers. The pâte fermentée needed only 1 day in the fridge with no 6 day feeding and no discard. In between baking, the pâte fermentée can be frozen until it is called up for ‘active service’.

And so I started the pâte fermentée journey.

Old Dough or pâte fermentée recipe :  

100g bread flour

70g tap water

Pinch of instant yeast

2 g salt

Mix well. Leave on the counter for an hour or until some fermentation takes place.

Fridge it overnight. The pate is ready for use any time after that.

50g pâte fermentée is enough to work through 500g of bread flour. I used half of the above pâte fermentée for my first loaf (any recipe, less the instant yeast) and froze the other half for another bake.

Recipe for using the pâte fermentée will follow in the next couple of posts.