Pizza with biga

Pizza dough with biga will give you a more light, soft dough full of flavor. Create this fluffy and flavorsome dough before stretching out a rich and rustic pizza using your favorite – simple, toppings. 😋 

The pizza with the biga is one of my last experiments in the field of pizza, obviously successful otherwise I would not be here to write about it. Here I am preparing pizza with the same method and the result was perfect: a light pizza, crispy outside and soft inside, but above all highly digestible. After all, I have always obtained this result with another method, namely to prepare the whole dough a day or two days before because if you want to eat a good pizza you have to give the dough time not only to rise but also to mature and for this time is needed. But now I wanted to prepare the pizza with a different method, namely the biga, and I want to clarify that this pizza is made all with biga, the day before I prepared the biga with all the flour available, yeast and a part of water, while the next day I added only more water, salt, malt and oil, but no flour (for a very light and hydrated dough). Another clarification that I must make concerns hydration. Today's dough is 90% hydrated and is quite challenging to manage, both for the folds and for the drafting but just a little practice and you will get a spectacular result, because the pizza is really the top: light, crunchy, fragrant, digestible, etc. etc. But I got to try this method even with less hydration and pizza is always a show, so I leave you the doses for hydration at 70% and 60%, whose dough is certainly more manageable. Maybe you can do some practice, starting from the dough at 60% until you reach maximum hydration. The dose of flour, in any case, is for a large baking tray 40×40 cm. I await your comments and let me know how you found yourself!

Pizza is one of the gastronomic products that represent the image of our country, perhaps even more than pasta. Here is a "modern" recipe of the traditional pizza, obtained with a leavening method known as "liquid biga" or liquid biga. This is a method that involves a remarkably high amount of water, around 80-100% water. The result is a batter-like dough: given the high presence of water, the microbial flora of the flour attacks not only the starch, but also the gluten network. From the aggression of gluten free amino acids are formed which give the dough friability and fragrance.

The liquid biga method, also known as "biga liquida", helps to give the pizza friability and fragrance. It is suitable for pizza, breads and loaves not very hydrated. Through the liquid biga method you get loaves with good leavening, fragrant, which are preserved for several days. The finished products will have a crispier crust and will be extremely digestible. The liquid biga in the pizza dough gives a meltability that is not obtained with the only direct dough based on brewer's yeast.

INGREDIENTS

  

BIGA: is a thick mixture of flour, water, and yeast that is allowed to ferment for some time before being combined with fresh dough to make bread, used especially in Italian baking.

1 gram Dry yeast 1/4 tsp

250 ml Water

500 grams Flour 

PIZZA:

WATER: 115 gr for 90% hydration – 80 gr for 70% hydration – 50 gr for 60% hydration

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon barley malt or honey or sugar

10 gr of extra virgin olive oil for the dough

200 gr of peeled tomatoes

200 gr of mozzarella

extra virgin olive oil to taste, salt and basil.

PLUS: Your choice of toppings + Extra virgin olive oil

Procedure.

The day before we prepare the chariot. Pour all the flour into a bowl, add the yeast and crumble it with your hands and distribute it evenly in the flour. Add the water and stir quickly so that the flour absorbs all the water. You have to get a very coarse and chopped dough. Close with a lid and leave at room temperature for about 16 hours. The next day, pour all the chariot into the planetary mixer, add the malt and a few tablespoons of water. Since it is a very hydrated dough, I use the leaf whisk or K and not the hook, because it works the dough better. Operate the planetary mixer at minimum speed for about 5 minutes. Add salt and let it incorporate. Increase the speed and then add the water, always a few tablespoons at a time, taking care to absorb all that you have poured first, before putting more. After about 10 minutes add the oil and let it absorb completely. Pour the dough onto a pastry board. Proceed with a first series of folds. Let rest 10 minutes and make other folds. Oil a plastic container and place the dough in it. If you prefer, you can use the special dough box, very useful for all leavened products. Let it rise for about 1 hour. After the indicated time, open the container and make other folds. Pour the dough on a floured surface and try to close the dough forming a ball. Flour well. Place it again in the plastic container and let it rise for about 2 hours. Preheat the oven in static mode to the maximum temperature. Pour the dough from the container directly into the pan that you will use to cook it. With your fingers, spread it gently from the center to the outside without crushing completely to the bottom and pour a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on the surface. Cook only the base for about 10 minutes. Remove the base from the oven and season with the peeled tomatoes that you have previously seasoned with basil, salt and oil. Complete with mozzarella and more oil. Cook all the stuffed pizza for another 5 minutes always at maximum power. Take it out of the oven and enjoy this delicious pizza with biga, indeed this pizza IS ALL BIGA!