Sourdough starter

From the Lexicon, Fermentation in Bread: Yeast, Levain, Preferments

Yeast eats sugar and exhales CO₂ (lift) and alcohol/acids (flavor); TIME is the flavor multiplier, which is why fast bread tastes of nothing. The preferment family trades time for depth: POOLISH (wet, French, mild-sweet), BIGA (stiff, Italian), and LEVAIN/SOURDOUGH STARTER (wild yeast plus lactobacilli: lift AND tang, no commercial yeast at all). Cold retarding (overnight refrigeration) slows yeast while flavor enzymes keep working, the professional's schedule trick AND flavor trick in one. AUTOLYSE, resting just flour and water before adding salt and leaven, lets gluten begin building itself; twenty lazy minutes replacing ten of kneading.