Reviewed: Jan. 16, 2012

I like this formula. It makes beautiful strands. I have been keeping a batch in the fridge and when I'm ready to make French or Italian bread, I put it in a big bowl and leave it on the counter top overnight. (or until room temp if you would rather.) I start to make my usual French or Italian recipe, (for one loaf) adding all of this biga to it, before adding flour. Proceed with your recipe, adding only enough extra flour while kneading that it stops sticking to your hands. Finish as your own recipe directs, forming two loaves instead of one.

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Reviewer:

GTM

Cooking Level: Beginning

Reviewed: Aug. 20, 2011

I would like to point out, that biga means starter and there are quite a few recipes on this site that use starters. I had some really good success with my biga, but I was curious the consistency I should be looking for, mine is really thick batter, should I add more water or wait it out?

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Reviewer:

ruphusandlucy

Reviewed: Dec. 28, 2005

Biga or any other starter isn't something for the occasional baker. This recipe is simple and worked perfectly. I took it out of the refrigerator 6 hours prior to using it for ciabatta to get it to room temp and to increase the yeast activity. The ciabatta came out great!

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Reviewer:

bakedinCA

Cooking Level: Professional

Home Town: Los Angeles, California, USA

Living In: San Francisco, California, USA

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2005

I didn't have much success with this. There is only one recipe on this site that uses Biga (foccocia bread) and I didn't think it was very good. It was an interesting experience though and I am still interested in learning about bread starters, but I don't think this is for beginners. I ended up with a lot of Biga left over after I tried the foccocia bread recipe so I modified the Amish friendship bread recipe (also from this site) the best that I could and used it for that. The Amish friendship bread was good and the fermented flavor of the biga in the bread was yummy, but I think one needs to know a little about bread before trying this particular method.

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