The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

biga pre-ferment

Bad results using vital wheat gluten in low gluten flour biga

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I normally use either Italian 00 flour or Hogdsen's Mill AP flour (either of which has about 9.8-10% protein per the mill specs) to make my Rosetta Rolls. I prepare a biga at 50% hydration with 90% of the flour and pre-ferment 12-16 hours. I add diastatic malt powder, water (52-55% final hydration), salt, and the rest of the flour for the final mix.

english muffins

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General

I had some left over biga from making pain puglese last week. last night I weighed the flour left in a bag, 21 ounces. The biga amounted to about a cup and a half. I scooped that with my hand and mixed it with 16 ounces of warm water and a teaspoon of yeast and 10 grams of salt. I calculated that this gave me about 75% hydration. I mixed the dough by hand and allowed several periods of resting between turning and folding the dough 3 or 4 strokes.

November 14, 2010 - 12:17pm

mdunham21

First attempt at a pugliese

I am rather new at making homemade bread but it is something I am growing to love. I come from a family of cooks and bakers, mostly from my mom's side of the family. Her father was an excellent cook and baker; I recently stumbled upon one of his bread recipes for buttermilk loaf bread. I have been making this loaf on the weekends for the past year or so. However, he kept the majority of his recipes in his head and didn't write many of them down. This has forced me to branch out on my own. This weekend I prepared a biga pre-ferment for a pugliese from "The Bread Bible"

This recipe does not use Durum flour which is fine because I was unable to locate any at my local grocery. The biga was prepared with a mixture of all purpose flour and coarse rye flour, a small amount of commercial yeast and water. This mixture was allowed to ferment for about 18 hours at a cool temperature.

I was pleased with the way the bread turned out, however I was hoping for a large sized boule compared to the one i was able to develop.

The crust was soft and the crumb was chewy with a medium distribution of holes.

Overall I was satisfied with the results. I currently have a sourdough starter in the making and cannot wait to make my first loaf in time for thanksgiving stuffing.

I look forward to any comments and suggestions

Cheers,

-M