A modern technique used to develop a dough with little kneading. It consists of mixing all the flour and water in a dough until it becomes homogeneous and then letting it rest for a period ranging from 20 minutes to about 3 hours. The aim of the technique is to allow the enzymes present in the flour to break down some of its starch into simple sugars which are easier to ferment and to encourage gluten development without over-oxidizing the dough by too much mixing.

This technique was developed in the twentieth century by Professor Raymond Calvel, an expert on french bread production