Windowpane Test Grigne

Grigne is a french word meaning smile

This is a test to see if you’ve kneaded
the dough long enough to develop the
gluten strands adequately. Simply grab
a small chunk of the dough and stretch it
out so you have a very, very thin sheet
that, if held up to light, is
nearly translucent with visible gluten
webbing.
or grin. A slashing technique that
creates a more horizontal cut under the
dough’s surface. As the bread bakes,
the cut remains covered a little longer,
allowing it to expand more before it
bakes. This is also referred to as “ears”
since the flap created eventually curls
up and protrudes a little.

Levain
This is simply a French term referring to sourdough
starter. A “pain au levain” is French for sourdough
bread, as distinct from a bread made with commercial
yeast. You may sometimes see this term applied to the
middle-step sourdough that is built up from the Mother
Starter and then added to the final dough mix.

Mother Starter
The Mother Starter is the “go to” sourdough starter from
which you would then cultivate new batches for each
baking session. It is always maintained, typically (for
occasional home bakers) it is kept in the refrigerator and
fed weekly. In my kitchen, it is never completely used up
so that I retain at least a couple of tablespoons to grow
more “mother” starter. Some recipes tell you to use the
mother in building the dough, then keep some of the now
built up bulk starter and turn it back into your mother.

French Fold or Stretch and Fold

This is looked at in details (with videos even!) on
it’s own page. It’s a different way of working the
gluten in the dough that replaces kneading. That’s
right, you don’t need to pound the dough for ages
on end. Unless you like to; some people find it
relaxing and therapeutic.
Lean Bread
A lean bread is one made with the basic bread ingredients
of flour, water, salt and leavening (i.e. sourdough starter or
instant yeast) although there are also unleavened breads
that fall into this category, such as matzo. A lean bread can
also have extra items such as herbs, sliced olives, grains &
seeds, raisins, etc. as these are not specifically part of the
dough itself.

Straight Dough
This refers to a method more than the composition of the
bread. A straight dough is where all basic ingredients are
placed “straight into” a bowl then mixed into a dough. The
specific ingredients are not really relevant to the definition.

Mise en Place
“Mise en Place”, pronounced “meeze awn plass”, is a
French term that simply means “Put in place”. It refers to
the setting out of your required ingredients, all measured
and ready, before you start building your bread (or
whatever you’re baking or cooking). So you’d go through
your recipe and weigh out your flour, water, butter, salt,
yeast and so forth ahead of time and make sure you aren’t
short of anything and everything is right there for you.

Poolish
Unlike Pâte Fermentée, Poolish has a definite ratio of
ingredients, mainly that it is made up of 50% flour and 50%
water (therefore 100% hydration) plus a very tiny portion of
yeast, .08 to 1%. It is therefore more of a batter consistency.
The name “poolish” is derived from the immigrant Polish bakers
who introduced the method to their French counterparts. A
Poolish normally has no salt.

Biga
Biga, pronounced “Bee-gah”, is an Italian term for a pre-
ferment. Unlike poolish, its hydration level is variable and can
be from 50% to 99%; at 100%, it is essentially a poolish. And
like the poolish, it’s yeast quantity is 0.8 to 1% . It
typically contains no salt.