I have poolish left over from another project and need an easy recipe for it. It is ready now! Can I just use a sourdough recipe and substitute poolish for the sourdough. I'm a rookie and only know enough to be dangerous. I don't under stand the formulas so please be easy on me.
You don't really have anything to lose but a bit of flour if it doesn't turn out.
Depending on how much poolish you have just alter everything to the same ratio. If you have 200g poolish even better.
https://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/pizza-dough-with-a-poolish/
Absolutely but you will likely have to add a bit of yeast in the final mix to get some gas going. The yeast in the poolish is pretty spent.
You can switch a yeasted bread recipe to sourdough or vice versa. The simple part is the flour and water. Calculate how much is in your preferment, and keep that constant. If you are substituting a Poolish, which is half water and half flour for a liquid levain, which is the same, it's as easy as can be.
The issue jimbtv raised is something else. Usually, when using a poolish, you do add a bit more yeast to the final dough. That's not true for a "pure" sourdough bread. How much is "a bit?" I would look at the baker's percentage of final dough yeast in a poolish baguette formula.
David
When I make a poolish I usually use 1/8 tsp yeast per loaf (750 gram) in the poolish, then another 1/8 to 1/4 tsp per loaf in the final dough.
I have been reading all over about the baker's percentage and how simple it is and I am so mathematically challenged that I get overwhelmed and just move on. It;s really really difficult for me. Yikes
Baker's Math: A tutorial
David
thanks i'll try it