I have a sourdough starter I've been feeding and nurturing for about a year and have used it in breads and pizzas mostly backing out flour and water and inserting amounts of starter.
I've come to a rustic Italian bread that calls for a Biga. I figure I could use my starter, even though this Biga is technically a less firm structure. It has occurred to me to refresh the starter, for this recipe, with a % of WW and Cornmeal to incorporate those flours into the bread and more water than usual to bring it closer to the Biga.
My dumb question is, how should I use my starter to replace this version of Biga in the recipe? If so, how?
Or should I add the starter into the final recipe and mix the Biga as stated and lose the yeast? OR??
Biga
227 g. Water
¼-tsp. Instant Yeast
72 g. All Purpose Flour
81 g. Whole Wheat Flour
41 g. Cornmeal
Final Dough
421 g. Biga
227 g. Water
3 g. Instant Yeast
490 g. All Purpose Flour
16 g. Sea Salt
I would appreciate and opinions on this.
Thanks
Art
Biga
227 g. Water
¼-tsp. Instant Yeast
72 g. All Purpose Flour
81 g. Whole Wheat Flour
41 g. Cornmeal
Total Water: 227g
Total Flour: 194g
A starter can be any hydration! Simply make an off shoot starter built to these specs. For example...
Allow this to mature and use as a biga style starter. Although timings will now differ.
Thank You, Abe. I'll give it a shot.