Biga - anyone here uses it on their dough

[etheil]

Rossco,

For too long I merrily tossed teaspoons full of yeast into my mix and wondered why there were thin spots in the bases and why they puffed up so much before I stretched them. Then I changed the recipe and only added minute quantities of yeast to the biga and the thin spots and puffing were a thing of the past

Whoa...my experience exactly! Even when I did a cold rise I still couldn't control the dough once it came out of the fridge. Frustrating times....

Just did a 24 hour room-temperature rise (no preferment) with some all purpose flour (Harvest King) and .05% fresh yeast and it turned out great. The dough doubled in volume during that time and I then turned it into dough balls. From there, they rose maybe 30% over the next six hours. Didn't get a chance to bake it as pizza in the WFO, but turned it into baguettes.

Eric

[C5dad]

You gotta love the enzymes for preping the flour for baking. Also adds a much better flavor. I do all my breads with cold ferment and low yeast (wild if possible.) Can't go wrong with low yeast though.

[heliman]

Another view on Biga that I found interesting was that it is possible to create a starter with just flour and water which is allowed to sit on the bench for 48 hours. No yeast is added. Anyone had any experience using this method?

[Faith In Virginia]

Yes you can create your own starter by leaving flour and water out on a bench. Then you develop and grow your starter until it's strong enough to make bread.

Biga, and poolish will never be a sourdough...apples to oranges biga and poolish are pre-ferments that use yeast.

[jgreigdavis]

I use a sourdough starter that I found here Sourdough Cultures It produces great dough.