Starter

Starter may refer to:

Science and technology

Food and meals

Sports

Games and hobbies

Other uses

See also

Pre-ferment

A pre-ferment is a fermentation starter used in bread making, and is referred to as an indirect method. It may also be called mother dough.

A pre-ferment and a longer fermentation in the bread-making process have several benefits: there is more time for yeast, enzyme and, if sourdough, bacterial actions on the starch and proteins in the dough; this in turn improves the keeping time of the baked bread, and it creates greater complexities of flavor. Though pre-ferments have declined in popularity as direct additions of yeast in bread recipes have streamlined the process on a commercial level, pre-ferments of various forms are widely used in artisanal bread recipes and formulas.

Classifications

In general, there are two pre-ferment varieties: sponges, based on baker's yeast, and the starters of sourdough, based on wild yeasts and lactic-acid bacteria. There are several kinds of pre-ferment commonly named and used in bread baking. They all fall on a varying process and time spectrum, from a mature mother dough of many generations of age to a first-generation sponge based on a fresh batch of baker's yeast:

Entrée

An entrée (/ˈɑːntreɪ/ /ˈɒntreɪ/ AHN-tray; French for "entrance", pronounced: [ɑ̃tʁe]) refers to types of dishes.

In French cuisine, as well as in the English-speaking world (save for the United States and parts of Canada), it is a dish served before the main course, or between two principal courses of a meal.

In North American English, the term retains an older meaning describing a heavy, meat course, due to the disappearance in the early 20th century of a large communal main course such as a roast as a standard part of the meal in the English-speaking world. This use of the term is almost unheard of outside North America, as most other English speakers follow contemporary French usage, generally considering the word "entrée" to mean a first course.

In 1961 Julia Child and her co-authors outlined the character of such entrées, which – when they did not precede a roast – might serve as the main course of a luncheon, in a chapter of "Entrées and Luncheon Dishes" that included quiches, tarts and gratins, soufflés and timbales, gnocchi, quenelles and crêpes.