Main Street Bread Baking Company uses a variety of starters to begin the bread dough leavening process. Specific starters will yield breads of defined flavor and texture.

The terms below define the starters our Bakers use in all of our high-qulaity breads:

Biga
A yeast dough made without salt. This spongy fermented starter is added to a bread's dough for the leavening process and results in breads of wholesome flavor.
Ingredients: Flour, water and yeast

Sourdough
No commercial yeast is used. This method of leavening bread occurs naturally by capturing the biology in the air itself. Feeding it and adding it to the bread dough makes the bread rise and become slightly acidic.
Ingredients: Flour and water

Lieveto Naturale
No commercial yeast is used in this starter, which is similar to traditional sourdough but has a much longer fermentation process.
Ingredients: Flour and water

Poolish
Made by the same process as sourdough, our Poolish contains no commercial yeast. This starter looks like pancake battter and is added to our baguettes to provide more lift.
Ingredients: Flour and water