October 24, 2024 - 6:14pm
Rising only with biga in bread machine
I am wondering if a formula exists to calculate the exact rising periods length. Assuming temperature is guaranteed being stable.
Custom program allows to set three rising periods of up to 100, for the first two, and 120 minutes long. Machine won’t easily allow to adjust the program on the fly.
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Do like it says and see what happens. If you use a starter - make sure it's active enough. I can't say for sure since I don't have the machine but I would start there. Enjoy!
I have never used a machine, but my dad had one. As far as I could see from that, the rising time was from when one mixed in the ingredients including the dried yeast.
Going by that I would think it might make sense to start the timing from the moment you mix the biga with the remaining ingredients for the loaf. I make a 50% SD biga loaf and I would say that the BF at room temperature (21C without the benefit of a warm environment like in a bread maker) would be around 4h till it went in the oven (BF plus proving). So 120min in the bread maker might be OK.
Current program has 12 steps. 120 min rising and biga represents 50% of total flour already.
I want to remove yeast except the small amount necessary for biga.
Ok. So for a first try, put into the machine the biga, the rest of the flour to reach the full amount for the recipe and enough water to reach the final hydration (total water - water already in the biga) plus any other ingredients you might want to put in. No further yeast needed apart from what is in the biga. Let it run for the maximum duration and see what comes out.
Let us know how it turns out.
I am careful to reach the prescribed amount of hydration. But with my surprise I always need to add three or four tsp of flour to enable formation of a proper dough ball.
You'd have to try it and see what happens. If it's active enough it should be good. I would start at the max for all stages - go from there. I should note - I do not have this machine - fortunately yeast is yeast. Enjoy!
PS - let us know what happens!
Go by feel - that's what should be in the hand. Adjust from there. Enjoy!
Crumb is the most structured so far. Soft and elastic, with nice smell and taste. Moisture was retained enough I think. A little test with olives oil showed it was adsorbed instead of falling through as with previous, more dry crumbs. Let’s see how it ages.
Beware - only small adjustments will make a difference - change 1 thing at a time - if you would like to play. Enjoy!