- 00 flour
- A finely milled Italian wheat-flour grade defined mainly by low ash content. The 00 label describes refinement, not gluten strength, so check the flour's protein or W value as well.
- Absorption
- How much water a flour can take while keeping a useful dough consistency. Protein, damaged starch, fibre, milling, and the intended bread style all affect it.
- Apretto
- The pizza-ball fermentation after the dough has been divided and rounded. It follows puntata and ends when each ball is opened for baking.
- Autolyse
- A rest of flour and water before salt and yeast go in, usually 20 to 60 minutes. It hydrates the flour and starts gluten forming on its own, so the dough needs less mixing.
- Baker's percentage
- A way of quoting a recipe where flour is 100% and every other ingredient is a percentage of the flour weight. It makes recipes scale and compare cleanly.
- Baking steel
- A thick steel plate preheated in the oven as a baking surface. It transfers heat into pizza or bread faster than a stone, so bases brown quickly.
- Banneton
- A breathable proofing basket that supports a shaped loaf and helps its surface stay dry enough to score cleanly. The loaf is turned out before baking.
- Batard
- An oval or short, tapered loaf shape: longer than a boule but usually shorter and fuller than a baguette.
- Biga
- A stiff Italian preferment, often around 50 to 55% hydration, fermented ahead of the main mix for strength and a deep flavour.
- Boule
- A round, free-standing loaf shaped with an even skin of surface tension around it.
- Brioche
- A highly enriched yeasted bread made with eggs and a substantial amount of butter. Its gluten must be developed enough to hold both fat and fermentation gas.
- Bulk fermentation
- The first long rise, after mixing and before dividing and shaping. Much of the flavour, gas, and dough structure develops here.
- Coil fold
- A gentle strengthening fold for wet dough: lift the middle until both ends tuck underneath, rotate the container, and repeat from the other direction.
- Cold ferment
- Fermenting dough in the fridge, usually at 3 to 5°C, to slow it down and build flavour over many hours or days.
- Cold retard
- A refrigerated rest used to slow fermentation, often after shaping. It extends the schedule, develops flavour, and can make a loaf easier to score.
- Cornicione
- The raised outer rim of a pizza. In Neapolitan pizza it should inflate in the oven and show an airy interior rather than a dense rolled edge.
- Crumb
- The interior structure of a baked bread, from tight and even to open and irregular.
- Crust
- The browned outer layer of bread or pizza, formed as the surface dries and heats during baking.
- DDT
- Desired dough temperature. The temperature you aim for the dough to reach right after mixing, which sets the pace of fermentation.
- Discard
- Starter removed before a feeding so the culture can be refreshed at a controlled size and ratio. It can be used in cooked recipes if it shows no contamination warning.
- Dormancy
- A low-activity state caused by cold storage or lack of food. A dormant starter may need several regular feedings before it returns to a predictable peak.
- Ear
- The raised flap of crust beside a confident angled score. It forms when a well-fermented loaf expands through that cut in the oven.
- Enriched dough
- Dough containing meaningful amounts of fat, sugar, eggs, or dairy. Enrichment softens the crumb but can slow fermentation and complicate gluten development.
- Feeding ratio
- The weights of starter, fresh flour, and water used in a refresh, written in that order. A 1:2:2 feed means one part starter, two parts flour, and two parts water.
- Fermentation
- The process in which yeast and bacteria transform dough sugars, producing gas, acids, aromas, and other flavour compounds over time.
- Fermentolyse
- A flour-and-water rest that includes the levain or starter from the beginning, while salt is usually held back. Fermentation therefore starts during the rest.
- Float test
- Dropping a little starter into water to see whether it floats. Floating shows trapped gas, but it does not reliably prove that the starter is at peak or ready to bake.
- Focaccia
- An Italian flatbread baked in a pan with olive oil, usually with a light, open crumb and a dimpled top.
- Fugassa
- The Ligurian name for focaccia, especially the thin, olive-oil-rich Genovese style with its characteristic dimples and salty surface brine.
- Gliadin–glutenin
- The two main families of wheat proteins that form gluten when flour is hydrated and worked. Gliadin contributes extensibility; glutenin contributes elasticity and strength.
- Gluten
- The elastic protein network formed when wheat flour is hydrated and worked. It lets dough stretch while holding fermentation gas.
- Hooch
- A grey or brownish alcoholic liquid that can collect on a very hungry starter. It signals overdue feeding, but never overrides mould, colour, or rotten-odour warnings.
- Hydration
- The weight of water as a percentage of the flour weight. It is the number that most shapes how a dough handles and bakes.
- Inoculation
- The amount of starter or preferment introduced into a dough, usually expressed relative to the flour. More inoculation generally shortens fermentation under the same conditions.
- Kahm yeast
- A loose informal name for a flat white or cream film that can grow on fermented food. Because it can be confused with contamination, uncertain or coloured growth should be discarded rather than diagnosed by appearance alone.
- Lactobacillus
- A traditional shorthand for the lactic-acid bacteria in sourdough cultures. These bacteria acidify the starter and contribute flavour, although modern taxonomy divides them among several genera.
- Lame
- A handle that holds a razor blade for scoring bread. A curved or angled blade can help create the shallow flap that opens into an ear.
- Lamination
- Stretching a dough thin and folding it early in bulk, a gentle way to build strength in high-hydration doughs.
- Levain
- A portion of sourdough starter built up specifically for a bake, often at a set ratio and ripeness.
- Mould
- Fungal growth that may look fuzzy or distinctly coloured. Mould on a starter is a discard-the-whole-culture warning, not something to scrape off and feed through.
- Oven spring
- The fast final rise a dough takes in the first minutes of baking, before the crust sets.
- P/L ratio
- An alveograph measure comparing a flour's resistance to stretching with its extensibility. Lower values lean more extensible; higher values lean more tenacious.
- Panetti
- Individual rounded pizza-dough balls after staglio. Each panetto ferments separately during apretto until it is opened and baked.
- Peak
- The point at which a fed starter reaches its greatest rise before it begins to flatten or fall. A repeatable peak is more useful than a single clock time.
- Pizza stone
- A preheated ceramic or cordierite baking surface that stores heat and helps a pizza base set and brown. It transfers heat more gently than steel.
- Poke test
- Pressing a floured finger lightly into proofing dough and watching how it recovers. It is a rough clue, not a universal timer, because dough strength, temperature, and style change the response.
- Poolish
- A wet preferment, usually 100% hydration, fermented ahead of the mix for extensibility and a mild, sweet flavour.
- Preferment
- A portion of flour and water fermented ahead of the final dough, with a little yeast or starter, then mixed in.
- Preshape
- A loose first shaping after division. It organizes the dough before a short bench rest and the tighter final shape.
- Proof
- The final rise, after shaping and before baking. This is where the loaf takes its last controlled lift.
- Protein percentage
- The protein content printed for a flour, usually as grams per 100 grams. It is a useful clue to strength, but protein quality and flour testing matter too.
- Puntata
- The Italian pizza term for bulk fermentation: the period when the mixed dough rests as one mass before staglio.
- Q10
- A rule of thumb that a reaction's rate roughly doubles for every 10°C of warming. For yeast, it links dough temperature to fermentation speed within a practical range.
- Sandwich loaf
- A soft, even-crumbed loaf shaped for clean slices, usually baked in a tin and often enriched with fat, milk, or sugar.
- Scoring
- Cutting the surface of a shaped loaf just before baking, to control where it expands during oven spring.
- Sponge
- A loose preferment made from some of a recipe's flour and liquid plus yeast. It is fermented before the remaining ingredients are mixed in.
- Staglio
- The Italian pizza stage where bulk dough is divided into portions and rounded into panetti before their final fermentation.
- Starter
- A living culture of flour and water, leavened by wild yeast and bacteria, kept alive and fed over time to raise sourdough.
- Stretch and fold
- A strengthening move performed during bulk fermentation: stretch one side of the dough without tearing it, fold it over, and repeat around the dough.
- Surface tension
- The taut outer skin created while shaping dough. It helps a loaf hold its form and directs expansion without sealing or tearing the surface.
- Tin loaf
- A loaf proofed and baked in a bread tin. The pan supports softer dough and gives predictable height and slice shape.
- Total formula weight
- The combined weight of every ingredient in a dough formula. It is the batch yield before fermentation and baking losses.
- Vera Pizza Napoletana
- Pizza made to the published Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana specification for ingredients, method, baking, and finished character.
- W value
- An alveograph measure of a flour's overall dough strength. Higher W flours generally tolerate longer fermentation or richer formulas, but W does not describe extensibility by itself.
- Windowpane
- A test for gluten development: stretch a small piece of dough thin enough to see light through it without tearing.
- Yeast
- A microorganism that ferments dough sugars and releases carbon dioxide, making dough rise. Baker's yeast may be fresh, active dry, or instant.
