Preferment Calculator
Pick a preferment type in the calculator below, enter your total flour and target hydration, and get exact amounts for both the preferment itself and the final dough you'll add the next day.
Preferment types
| Ingredient | Weight |
|---|---|
| Flour | 125g |
| Water | 125g |
| Yeast | 0.13g |
| Salt | 0g |
| Ingredient | Weight |
|---|---|
| Remaining flour | 375g |
| Remaining water | 200g |
| Salt | 10g |
| All preferment (add in full) | 250g |
Poolish vs biga vs pate fermentee
| Type | Hydration | Salt | Ferment time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poolish | 100% | No | 8-16 hrs |
| Biga | 50-60% | No | 12-24 hrs |
| Pate fermentee | ~65% | Yes | 8-16 hrs |
Poolish is French: liquid, mild, slightly sweet, common in baguettes and pizza. Biga is Italian: stiff, nutty, and slower to ferment, common in ciabatta. Pate fermentee is just held-back dough from a previous batch, already salted, used in French bread and lean loaves generally.
How this is calculated
A preferment isn't a separate ingredient, it's a portion of your recipe's own flour and water, mixed and fermented ahead of time. The math works the same way this site's Sourdough Hydration Calculator handles a starter: preferment flour is subtracted from the total, preferment water is subtracted from the total water needed, and what's left is what you add the next day.
Preferment flour = total flour × preferment percent. Preferment water = preferment flour × preferment hydration. Remaining flour = total flour minus preferment flour. Remaining water = (total flour × target hydration) minus preferment water.
Worked example
500g total flour, 25% poolish, 65% target hydration. The poolish is 125g flour and 125g water (100% hydration). Total water needed for 65% hydration on 500g flour is 325g, minus the 125g already in the poolish, leaving 200g of water to add the next day along with 375g of remaining flour and 10g of salt.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between poolish and biga?
How much preferment should I use?
Can I use a preferment with sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast?
What is pate fermentee?
How this is checked. Hydration ranges and yeast-by-fermentation-time figures on this page are cross-checked against multiple independent professional and home-baking references, including King Arthur Baking's own published poolish formula, rather than a single source's numbers. Where sources disagreed, this page uses the commonly-cited middle of the range.