The quality, flavor and ultimate success of your fermented breads begins with sourdough starters, or preferments. Although making a starter is simple enough, there is a complex side to sourdough technology. Sourdough (also known as levain) leavens bakery products as a clean label leavening solution for wheat and rye bread, Panettone, Colomba, Pandoro, different brioches, [...]
One of the more popular preferments or yeast starters, biga uses only flour, water and yeast—and no salt. With a low hydration level, it’s on the stiff side of preferments. What does biga do to dough? It helps with: Improving the functionality of gluten and strengthening dough Shortening final fermentation time with less yeast Boosting aroma and flavor [...]
Artisan breads are in. One of the top food trends for this year is rustic breads, like Ciabatta. If you’re going to try your hand at a bread like this, you need to understand fermentation and starters like biga. What is biga? Biga is a preferment with no salt, usually stiffer than the French variety of Poolish. It [...]
Hydration is a part of the mixing process that you MUST get right. No matter what you’re mixing—doughs, batters, or anything in between—there needs to be a way of making dry ingredients interact with wet ingredients. True, the level of hydration you’re aiming for is going to depend on what you are mixing. However, you [...]
Without the proper hydration, gluten will not function properly. Gluten thrives on hydration. While dough is in the mixer, water molecules are binding to the polar sites on the gluten proteins. When these proteins have enough water, they provide elastic and extensible properties. In other words, the better hydrated gluten is, the better [...]
Ciabatta What is Ciabatta? A ciabatta is an Italian yeast-leavened artisan and hearth-type bread made with a lean formula. It is characterized by having a crisp crust and a large, irregular and open crumb grain (cell structure). The flour’s high water absorption level is the basis for ciabatta’s dough stickiness and weakness, [...]
Biga What is biga? Biga is a type of preferment or yeast starter that does not include salt in its preparation, only flour, water and yeast. It is a stiff preferment due to its lower hydration level, usually in the range of 50–60% water absorption. Biga is to the Italians as poolish [...]
Preferment What is a Preferment? A preferment is a mixture of dough components which is allowed to ferment before it is added to a bread mix. Types of preferments include: Sourdough Levain (a type of more hydrated sourdough) Poolish (also known as French preferment) Biga (Italian preferment or aged dough) Pȃte fermentée [...]
