March 26, 2016 - 8:06am
Biga catastrophe
I'm new to pre-fermented breads and just made my first biga last night. I was up early to start my bread -- and after I got the dough into my bowl to proof, I panicked -- realizing I had used ALL the biga, not just the small portion in the recipe.
Is it worth continuing? My dough is now proofing but don't know if I should continue through all the steps and bake it -- or just toss it? And know I'll never make this mistake again!
Thanks for any replies!
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What does the whole formula look like?
I would just bake it and see what happens. No good wasting it. It might not be the disaster you're imagining!
No worries, we all make mistakes.
Next loaf will be great :)
Let us know what happens.
Thanks Ru - going to continue with the science experiment! I'll let you know the results.
Make a note of how much biga, how much flour, how much water went into this loaf, and then make more notes about how it turned out (how long it took to proof, etc.). If it turns out wonderful you'll have a recipe! Then bake the original recipe and see how they compare.
A large amount of pre-fermented dough shouldn't be too much of a problem as that's basically what you do when you mix a dough and then let it bulk ferment overnight in the fridge. Interesting to see what happens.
Hard to know exactly how much biga -- I know the amount of the original ingredients, but not its weight/volume after leaving it overnight. I just dumped the whole thing in.
During the first proofing, I had a monster in the bowl -- not surprising given I used all the biga. I'm baking in a cast iron dutch oven -- so have taken a third off and am using that to shape.
Results: not what I was aiming for, but surprisingly edible. Denser for sure -- reminds me of the texture of bread from "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day".