September 10, 2014 - 10:31am
Success! Ken Forkish's 80% Biga
Just made Ken Forkish's 80% biga white last night. This was the best bread I've made yet. Really happy with the results. Great dome; great crumb; wonderful, crackly crust.
This was my schedule:
9 pm: Made biga
8 am: Retarded biga in the fridge, since I had to go to work
7 pm: Took biga out of the fridge to warm it up to room temperature (right now, room temperature is about 78F!)
8 pm: Added the 100 g flour and all the other stuff (made only half the recipe), folded, and let it sit out for about 2.5 hours.
10:30 pm: Formed the dough and placed it in a banneton, then let it sit out for another hour
11:30 pm: Baked.
12:15–30 am: Done!
Yes, I stayed up quite late for this, but it was worth it!
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Comments
white bread that looks great inside and out and doesn't take 3 days to make. Yours is perfect. Well done and
Happy baking
Yes! I'm very happy with the way everything turned out. This recipe (and another one I tried from the same book) boosted my confidence in bread baking. Can't wait to move on to the levain-based ones!
:)
You're right! 30 minutes shy of just two days !:)
I have Forkish's FWSY, but I admit that I've only looked at the levain dough recipes. Your biga based bread is so perfect that I might have to try some of the pre-fermented dough recipes.
Totally recommend it! Someone (it might have been on this board) commented on how the recipe is similar to Cook's Illustrated's no-knead bread. I don't agree. The flavor is way more complex than the CI recipe. You must show me how yours turns out.
Congrats . . . . but tell me, why didn't you make the Biga at 8am before going to work instead of making it the night before and then retarding it all day?
Just didn't have enough foresight to plan ahead. I'm going to make another biga tonight (didn't have time to do it this morning), and another one tomorrow morning. Bread from start to finish in one day. So great!
DulceBhbc: Congratulations! It looks fantastic. I will have to try this one at some point. I really don't think it could have come out better. The crust and crumb are wonderful. Thanks for sharing. Best, Phyllis
I baked that too, as my first Forkish loaf. Wrote about it here.
I think yours came out better, but I agree that the taste is really excellent. I loved that bread.
Beauty! Great dome and I literally said "wow" out loud when I saw the crumb.
I was so excited about this that I made two more boules today. I wanted to make sure the one above wasn't a fluke, and that I actually knew what I was doing. Indeed, the results are consistent. This recipe is a keeper.
Looks fantastic!
Reminds me to get that book of his. Heard so many great things about it.
Zita
Beautiful bake. Will have to give this one a try soon.
Regards,
Ian
Sadly, mine turned into a sloppy puddle.
How much strength does a fully matured biga add to the loaf? I made mine, left it out for three hours and then popped it in the fridge overnight (as I knew I was out all day the next day). The next morning, I took it out of the fridge and left it on the side for 9 hours. It had a few little bubbles, but it certainly wasn't domed!
Time was against me, so I mixed it anyways. I was left with a giant sloppy dough which didn't form into a ball at any point.
So yes, I suppose my question is (for anyone who can answer!) - how much strength does the biga add to this loaf? I like the idea of making it at night, then putting it in the fridge the next morning for baking that evening.