I used biga starter earlier on when I was making bread with yeast, and before I got my sour dough starter.
I did a couple of bread using biga starter, after watching Italian Food Safari, an episode about artisan baking, but the biga recipe wasn't on the show.
I want to explore some options of making the sandwich loaf, using different starters, and just rememberred this method of making bread. I used it a couple of times making ciabatta, and according to my memory, one of the chef on the forum told me that common biga formula is 100:60:1.
So I used 100g of plain white flour, 60g of water and 1g of dry yeast to make biga.
Add yeast to water, until it disolves and slightly frothy, add flour and mix well. Biga dough is thicker than poolish, which is normally 100%.
Then I had it coverred in a clean container and let it ferment for over night. It normally takes around 12-16 hours for biga to be ready.
For the small white loaf:
240g bread flour
biga dough prepared a day earlier, amount as above
1 tsp of salt
150ml water
15ml olive oil
Add fermented biga to the mixture and knead dough until it's smooth - just like making any other bread.
Biga starter dough is slower in proofing so give it time till it doubles, usually the slower the proofing process, the more resilient the bread will be, sourdough breads are slow as well.
Once doubled in size, shape and bake as a normal loaf.
It's quite nice and easy!
I love baking. I have cut back baking a lot of sweets this year, but I do have excuses to bake bread - after all, it's a staple. After hearing all the stories about some bread keep the shape with out any mould for months in room temperature, I do start to wonder how many preservatives the shops and factories put into the bread these days? In the name of bread improver?
I usually make the children's sandwich bread using egg, milk and butter, but I have been using olive oil, and water, and the result is pretty good.
It's a small loaf as it's only for the children.
300g bread flour
170g water
30g olive oil
1 tsp salt
5g yeast
That's all it is.
I just love it when I'm able to provide my children they love to eat for school lunch.
