Biga – a stiff preferment for a chewier crust
Biga brings aroma and a crust with real chew. Here is the schedule for 50, 70 and 100% biga, with times and temperatures suited to home kitchens.
Quick answer: biga is a stiff preferment (about 45–50 % hydration relative to its own flour) with roughly 1 % yeast, left to ferment for 12–16 hours at 16–18 °C before it is mixed into the main dough. The result is more aroma and a crust with more pronounced chew than a straight dough.
Schedule for 50, 70 and 100 % biga
The percentage tells you how much of the total flour goes into the preferment. A 50 % biga gives a noticeable but not dominant difference in flavour; a 100 % biga (all the flour prefermented) gives the most pronounced effect but is also the most sensitive to exact timing – too long and it turns sour and overworked, too short and you get no advantage at all over a straight dough.
Building the dough
When the biga is ready – it should have grown, feel full of air pockets and smell lightly tangy and boozy, not sour – it is mixed with the rest of the flour, water, salt and a small amount of extra yeast for the main fermentation. The calculator helps you work out the whole schedule, preferment included.
Biga and poolish solve the same problem in different ways – the biga vs poolish comparison sets them side by side. The strength of the flour (its W value) matters more in a biga than in a straight dough, because the preferment already puts strain on the gluten network. The full house recipe: Neapolitan pizza dough.
