What is biga?

poolish

A wet, equal-parts flour-water pre-ferment with a tiny amount of yeast — roughly 100% hydration, typically 0.1-0.3% baker's percentage yeast. Mixed the night before and rested 12-16 hours at room temperature until domed, bubbly, and slightly tart-smelling. The next day, the poolish goes into the final dough as a pre-fermented chunk of flour. The technique is traditionally attributed to 19th-century Polish bakers (hence the name), though food historians debate the true origin; either way it migrated through France into the modern artisan tradition. The point: a poolish ferment generates deep, slightly nutty flavor compounds the final dough never has time to develop on its own. It also produces better keeping quality — a poolish baguette stays fresh noticeably longer than a same-day version. Baguette and Neapolitan-style pizza both use poolish variants in the library.

fermentolyse

A rest after mixing all ingredients including salt and yeast, before kneading. Less hydration time than a pure autolyse (because the salt tightens the dough and the yeast starts working immediately), but simpler — no two-stage mix. Pizza recipes, poolish-based loaves, and most home bakers use this in place of a true autolyse without noticeable difference in result.