There are no secret ingredients or master recipes in great bread baking. Successful artisan bread baking is largely focused on controlling fermentation. Controlled fermentation accounts for greater dough strength, longer product shelf life due to acidification and, more importantly for your customer, complex flavor.
Much like the health of the human body, dough fermentation depends on adequate nutrition, proper temperature, appropriate salinity, prodigious hydration, enzymatic activity and attentive care. In short, dough fermentation occurs when alpha-amylase converts carbohydrates into simple sugars, which are converted by yeast into life energy for the yeast, carbon dioxide, alcohol and organic acids.