The biga fun continues. This time, I decided to pre-ferment everything. 50% whole rye in a SD crumble biga (45% hydration), and 50% bread flour in a IDY poolish.
The next day, I simply combined the poolish and the biga and added salt. Given that this was a 100% preferment, the bulk was really short - 2 hours - and I concentrated on building a lot of strength upfront. Shaped, added the usual suspects, and baked in the dutch oven at 220 degrees with the lid off halfway.
The crumb was astonishingly velvet soft, and the taste of the SD-yeast was a nice change from the usual. I had scored the loaf a little too deeply, so there was no ear, but the spring was plenty.
We loved this bread with green pea soup!
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Wow! I tried the crumble Biga a couple times. I couldn’t get it to work and it was so sour. Obviously I didn’t manage it well.
How do you get the crumble hydrated? I see you didn’t add anymore water . I’m very interested to hear more about your process and pictures if you have time.
Thank you. Caroline 🙏
I found this page, which seems to be about the same thing although more fussy on details -
https://www.stadlermade.com/pizza/ingredients/biga/
TomP
Rene R had posted his method sometime back. The method that ll433 uses doesn’t involve “ soaking” just adding a Poolish and mixing.
My experience with adding anything that is thick/ dry/ crumbly is tiny dumplings . I’ve never had anything except bad results. Also sour after letting a Biga be out for 18 hrs.
That’s why I’m interested in pictures and more detail on her method. I’d like to understand it better. Thank you for the link but it doesn’t cover what this post shows. 🙏
I have been assuming that the soaking time's purpose is just to let the biga absorb water and soften so it's easier to smooth out the clumps.
But the above ll433 posted hasn’t got that step so I’m interested in how the intense working manages to form a smooth cohesive dough.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/comment/550478#comment-550478
From May - Lin did do a short soak. Lots of comments. I still can’t make these drier mixes work.
And this : if I make it the “ wrong” way as noted it works well. The dry shaggy doesn’t like me!
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/68024/biga-controversy
😅 Amazing, Lin. Truly amazing. I've never gotten a crumb like that with 50% rye. It's kinda like the deli rye I make, except totally different. How's the flavor? And what was the total hydration? Did you round up walnuts and dates as the usual suspects? -- Rob