Breadmaking topic: Biga

Since the subject of breadmaking comes up here quite a bit, I thought I'd throw this out there for those who like to make homemade bread and may want to venture out a bit from basic bread recipes that use commercial yeast and are developed over just a few hours like bread machine bread or simple loaf breads. It's also a handy thing to have in your breadmaking toolbox if you have a family sourdough recipe, but you don't want to mess with making and maintaining a starter.

A biga is a pre-ferment made with flour and commercial yeast, usually made overnight the day before you want to bake, but also can be made up ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for a few days. The advantage is a complexity of flavor similar to what you'd get from a good sourdough loaf.

A standard packet of baker's yeast contains 7 grams. Many recipes call for an entire packet for just one or two loaves of bread. However, it's possible to make the same amount of bread with just 1 or 2 grams of yeast and allowing more time for the yeast to multiply. More time = more flavor. A biga takes a portion of the flour, water, and a very small amount of yeast and allows it to develop over 12-16 hours or so, then you use this mixture to make your bread in the same way you'd use a sourdough starter. Sourdough recipes lend themselves well to a biga, but pretty much any bread recipe can be adapted one so long as you are mindful of keeping the hydration levels the same taking into account the amount of liquid and flour in the master recipe and subtracting however much you are using to make your biga.

A typical biga for one 1.5-2lb loaf would look something like this:

230 grams of flour (~ 1 3/4 cups)
161 grams of room temperature water (3/4 cup minus 1 tbs)
1 gram instant or rapid rise yeast (1/4 tsp)

Mix the flour and water together until the flour is fully hydrated and let sit for 20 minutes. Sprinkle the yeast over the mixture and mix for 2 minutes or so until the yeast is well incorporated. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days. Remove from the refrigerator about 2 hours before you mix your dough.

Subtract the flour and water you used in your biga from the recipe. Use no more yeast. Add the rest of the ingredients from your recipe and prepare as you normally would. This should work in a bread machine, but you may need to adjust the cycles to get the rise times just right.

For best results, let the water set out for about 8 hours or so, or use filtered or spring water. This will remove all or most of the chlorine. Instant or rapid rise yeast works best as you can just add it directly to the mix. If you use active-dry yeast you'll need to hydrate it in the water for a few minutes before use.