A ferment (also known as bread starter) is a fermentation starter used in indirect methods of bread making. It may also be called mother dough. A 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 ferments have declined in popularity as direct additions of yeast in bread recipes have streamlined the process on a commercial level, ferments of various forms are widely used in artisanal bread recipes and formulas. Classifications In general, there are two 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: Biga and poolish (or pouliche) are terms used in Italian and French baking, respectively, for sponges made with domestic baker's yeast. Poolish is a fairly wet sponge (typically one-to-one, this is made with a one-part-flour-to-one-part-water ratio by weight), and it is called biga liquida, whereas the "normal" biga is usually drier. Bigas can be held longer at their peak than wetter sponges, while a poolish is one known technique to increase a dough's extensibility. Sourdough starter is likely the oldest, being reliant on organisms present in the grain and local environment. In general, these starters have fairly complex microbiological makeups, the most notable including wild yeasts, lactobacillus, and acetobacteria in symbiotic relationship referred to as a SCOBY. They are often maintained over long periods of time. For example, the Boudin Bakery in San Francisco has used the same starter dough for over 150 years. A roughly synonymous term in French baking is levain. Mother dough often refers to a sourdough, and in this context the term starter often refers to all or a piece of mother dough; however, mother dough may also refer to a first-generation yeast sponge; so the process used in relation to the ingredients and fermentation times is important to understanding yeast versus sourdough methods. A roughly synonymous term used in French baking is Chef.