June 1, 2010 - 6:09am
About the Biga or sponge
I am about to make some bread later today, I made a Biga 1 1/4 cups flour 1 cup water & 1/4 tsp Instant yeast. question I have is when I put the Biga mix in my bowl and the remaining 3 cup flour, how much more yeast do I have to add. this bread recipe without the biga calls for 2 1/4 tsp yeast, 4 cups flour, & 1 1/3 cups water & one egg. sugar & salt.
Chet
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(another 2 tsp) unless you want to play around with an extended cold ferment. Since you already have a biga, you will get the flavor benefits of the long ferment without risking a breakdown of the gluten in the biga by subjecting it to a second long fermentation.
So, follow the directions unless you know there's something, like high ambient temperatures, that would argue in favor of reducing the yeast quantity.
Paul